The NFL star Aaron Rodgers is speaking out this week to reveal that getting traded to the New York Jets made him “fall back in love” with football again for the first time in years.
The world was stunned back in 2022 when Rodgers was traded to the Jets after playing for the Green Bay Packers for eighteen years. While appearing on the “I Can Fly” podcast on Tuesday, Rodgers opened up about just how life changing this trade was for him.
“My time in Green Bay was up. And I did Ayahuasca. And then a week later, I got traded to the Jets,” recalled Rodgers, 40.
“And I have this incredible offseason experience in a new city and a new town with new teammates and new organization and owner for the first time and really falling back in love with a game that I first fell in love with when I was five years old,” he continued. “And it was absolutely beautiful and special and deep and rich and yummy and just incredible.”
Unfortunately, Rodgers hasn’t had the best of luck with the Jets, as his season ended prematurely in September of last year when he tore his Achilles tendon during his first game with the team. In his latest interview, Rodgers admitted that he thought his career was over as soon as this injury occurred, revealing that it was “one of the most heartbreaking nights of my life, when I played four plays. Talk about an ego death.”
“I was really thinking, ‘This is it. You don’t come back from this injury,'” Rodgers admitted.
Rodgers could not help but become emotional as he recounted flying back to California the day after his injury with a few of his closest friends.
“I said, ‘I need help. This is going to be really tough. I just need you all to be there for me on the tough days when I stop believing it’s possible,'” he remembered. “It’s hard to ask for help.”
Now people are saying Aaron Rodgers didn’t tear his Achilles? We all watched this happen live. pic.twitter.com/CdpRCA91Kx
Once the “doomsday” scenario of his career being over was out of his mind, however, Rodgers recovered on surgery and on his recover process. Looking back six months later, Rodgers can’t help but think that “so much has changed” in his life.
“As s—ty as it was — and it was the most heartbreaking thing that’s ever happened to me — all the miracles that happened along the way never would’ve happened,” he stated.
Aaron Rodgers revealed that he really fell back in love with the game of football after being traded to New York, ‘it was absolutely beautiful, special, & deep, & rich, & yummy, & just incredible. And then one of the… pic.twitter.com/b7I95vovKc
Rodgers is now firmly looking to the future, and he is determined to play two to four more years.
“I’m excited about playing again,” he said. “I love playing. I fell back in love with the game and then I had it taken away after four plays. I miss being out there, I love competing.
“Football is my happy place,” he added. “That’s where I feel most in control of my athletic ability. I missed that last year, I really, really missed it. My heart was broken. I’m excited about taking the field one more time and — not life or death — going to battle with my guys.”
— Petey Peter Pete Pablo (@peteyitaly) April 3, 2024
Whether you are a fan of Rodgers or not, it can’t be denied that he is a fighter. And he clearly has a whole lot more to give when it comes to playing professional football. Here’s hoping that he is fully recovered enough by September to have an incredible season playing for the Jets!
