Aaron Rodgers announces non-decision on future, talks about quarterbacks coach Tom Clements

On Sunday, former punter-turned-streamer Pat McAfee tweeted out that he had a “big guest locked and loaded” for Tuesday, which led to many assuming that the guest was Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who had been a The Pat McAfee Show staple on Tuesdays for the last two years. Late Monday night, Rodgers broke from his social media silence to make a long post on Instagram, which some took as a hint that he may be retiring in the near future.

Rodgers was, in fact, the guest McAfee was alluding to, but a decision on Rodgers’ future was not announced on Tuesday. Early on in his hour-long conversation with McAfee, Rodgers stated upfront, “There will be no news today, no decision on my future.”

After talking about his 12-day panchakarma treatment, Rodgers explained that he still has questions he wants to be answered before he decides whether to return to Green Bay or not and spoke about the Packers’ newly-hired quarterbacks coach Tom Clements, who he previously worked with from 2006 to 2016.

“There’s still a lot to decide. I still want to have conversations with some of my close friends and current teammates. Obviously, you know, Tom Clements got hired to be the quarterback coach of the Packers. Tom and I go way back. I love Tom. I owe him so much credit for my development when I was a young player. I’m happy to see him back in the game. The game is better when Tom Clements is coaching because he’s one of those special, special coaches. He doesn’t get all the credit he deserves. He’s kind of just been one of those lifer guys in the business, but a fantastic teacher of the game. Great for young players as well. Like when I was a young player — the offseason was obviously different back then — but, man, he was instrumental in my development for sure.”

Rodgers would later state that he has a good working relationship with the front office and coaching staff, noting it is in a much better space than it was a year ago. This has been a point that Rodgers has consistently made over the last few months, including during his acceptance speech for the NFL’s Most Valuable Player Award.

The big question now is if Rodgers’ decision will come before or after Green Bay decides to retain receiver Davante Adams, who is slated to be a free agent in 2022. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein notes, the Packers have not had conversations with Adams since the season ended. From a cap perspective, it is better for Green Bay to get Adams re-signed on a long-term deal, due to a smaller cap hit in the cap crunch that will be the 2022 season, but they do have the ability to place the franchise tag on Adams starting today. The window to place the franchise tag players ends on March 8th.

Earlier this offseason, Rodgers stated that he would make his decision before free agency, to give the team ample time to prepare for life with or post-Rodgers. Free agency officially begins on March 16th, but the legal tampering window starts on March 14th.