GREEN BAY — Aaron Rodgers acknowledged the obvious Friday afternoon: That after 15 seasons, two NFL MVP awards, nine playoff berths and a Super Bowl XLV title, his Pro Football Hall of Fame career most likely will not end the way it began: With the Green Bay Packers.
But it was the way the Packers star quarterback said it — in his final answer of a nearly 40-minute conference call with Wisconsin reporters, one that focused on but was not exclusively about general manager Brian Gutekunst’s and head coach Matt LaFleur’s decision to trade up and pick quarterback Jordan Love in the first round of last month’s NFL draft — that was noticeable: With a tinge of resignation, and clear disappointment that despite all the times he said he wanted to play into his 40s and beyond his current contract, that the team’s brain trust isn’t planning for it to end that way.