NFL star Aaron Rodgers rejected the chance to swap shirts with Detroit Lions star Jameson Williams - fuelling speculation around his potential retirement.
The quarterback’s Green Bay Packers campaign came to an end at the hands of the Detroit Lions, who defeated the 2011 Super Bowl champions 20-16 on their home turf earlier today. Williams, 21, keen to obtain the jersey of one of the game’s finest players post match, had his request denied by the 39-year-old who said: “I gotta hold on to this one.”
Elaborating on his decision, Rodgers added: “I think I might have told him I’d give him a jersey when we played in Detroit but there are some special ones I’d like to keep. It was nothing against Jameson. I want to keep this one.
"It’s a night game, Lambeau, Week 18, there are certain jerseys you like holding on to. Big Sunday night game, a little bit different. It’s not keeping it [forever] it’s about maybe a cool thing to give someone else.”
Rodgers finished 17 of 27 for 205 yards which marked the first time in his starting career that he finished a season without posting a single 300-yard game. As a result, after just eight wins this season, the Packers failed to make the playoffs. That follows last season's disappointment as, after another 13-win season, they lost at home in their first playoff game.
Rodgers, a four-time and reigning back-to-back MVP has been a part of the NFL since 2005 and reached the summit of the sport 12 years ago when he lifted The Vince Lombardi Trophy. Having won the Super Bowl MVP that year as well as being a four-time All Pro first team and the record holder of the most consecutive passes without an interception, Rodgers’ place in NFL history is indelibly etched in stone.
But when it comes to his future, Rodgers has given it some thought but has not yet come to a decision about whether or not he will return next season. “I mean it’s a little raw right now,” he said post-match. “It’s a little bit out of the game - I want to take the emotion out of it, have conversations and see where the organisation is at.
“I’m not gonna hold them hostage, I understand we are still in January here, March is free agency. I just need some time to get the emotion out of it and figure out what is best. There has got to be mutual, on both sides.
“The competitive fire is always going to be there, I don’t think that is ever going away. Sometimes it gets transferred to other things. But I wouldn’t have any regrets walking away. I’ve got to see what it feels like when I get away from this.”
He says the Packers are a "couple of players" away from being credible contenders, but given their disappointing exit this year, and the underwhelming recent postseason numbers, Rodgers commented on and accepted the possibility his team may look beyond him moving ahead to next season.
"To assume it's a foregone conclusion (that the Packers want him back) would be probably slightly egotistical, so I'm going to be a realist here and understand there are a lot of different parts to this," he said.
"I was aware of the possibility of them going young if we had gotten to a point (this season) where we were out of it. I'm aware of that possibility as well (going forward)."
