Mar 8, 2022

  • Rob DemovskyESPN Staff Writer

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    • Covered Packers for Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1997-2013
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Greenish BAY, Wis. -- The beautiful mystery tour will go on. Aaron Rodgers is not washed with the Green Bay Packers merely nonetheless, and at present in that location really is a hazard the four-time NFL MVP will finish his career in the same place information technology started.

Rodgers announced Tuesday on Twitter that he will return to the Packers for the 2022 season.

The sides are working on a new contract that would lower his salary-cap effigy for the 2022 season while giving Rodgers, 38, contractual clarity well into his 40s.

Rodgers, nonetheless, said a deal has not notwithstanding been signed or agreed upon.

"Hey everyone, simply wanted to clear some things up; Yep I will exist playing with the @packers side by side year, however, reports about me signing a contract are inaccurate, as are the supposed terms of the contract I "signed". I'm very excited to exist back #year18," he tweeted.

The Packers' Super Basin odds improved from 15-ane to 12-i on Tuesday at Caesars Sportsbook, which has Dark-green Bay as the favorite in the NFC.

Rodgers promised to avoid a lengthy decision-making procedure, and now general manager Brian Gutekunst -- once part of Rodgers' dissatisfaction with the organization -- tin put together his plan to field another Super Basin contender.

It ways Hashemite kingdom of jordan Beloved, who is inbound his tertiary NFL season, will accept to expect at least another year before he gets a crack at the starting job. Rodgers sat for three seasons behind Brett Favre before he took over.

It was Gutekunst's determination to typhoon Beloved in 2020 that put Rodgers' future with the squad into question. Shortly after the Dear option, Rodgers reiterated his desire to not simply play into his 40s but to do it with the Packers. However, he said he realized that "may not exist a reality at this bespeak" and added, "I'thou merely not sure how that all works together at this signal."

Late in the 2020 flavour, Rodgers called his futurity a "beautiful mystery" and shortly later the NFC Championship Game loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers included himself in a group of players with uncertain futures.

What followed was an offseason-long cold-shoulder -- he missed workouts, organized team activities and minicamp -- during which ESPN reported that Rodgers was so disgruntled with the Packers that he told some in the system that he would never play for them again.

Upon his return to the squad on the eve of grooming military camp, Rodgers signed a restructured contract that eliminated the last twelvemonth of his deal, for the 2023 season, making it easier for a divorce afterwards the 2021 season.

Over the summer, Rodgers detailed his list of grievances that substantially boiled down to this: "I just want to be involved in conversations that affect my ability to practice my chore." Gutekunst brought wide receiver Randall Cobb back to Green Bay at Rodgers' request, and it was the get-go of improved relations between the quarterback and the front end office. In fact, throughout the flavor, Rodgers offered unprompted praise for moves Gutekunst fabricated, including signing of veterans like cornerback Rasul Douglas and pass-rusher Whitney Mercilus.

After the flavor-ending loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC divisional playoff round, the Packers maintained their desire for Rodgers to remain with the team until retirement. Coach Matt LaFleur said the team would "be crazy not to want him back hither."

A day later on, LaFleur said that feeling extended to Gutekunst, team president Marking Murphy and managing director of football game operations Russ Ball.

"We're all on the same page there," LaFleur said. "There'southward no debate."

When offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was hired equally the Denver Broncos' coach in Jan, it fueled speculation that Rodgers could end up there. The Broncos were ane of the teams that expressed involvement in trading for Rodgers last offseason.

Rodgers said he did not want to be role of a rebuilding procedure. Given the Packers' bacon-cap troubles -- entering the offseason almost $45 1000000 over their projected salary cap and not having wide receiver Davante Adams under contract either -- that could been the case. So Rodgers must have received assurances from Gutekunst that he would exist able to put together another contender.

The Packers have won 13 games each of the past three seasons merely, with their combined 39 wins, set the NFL record for most wins in a 3-season stretch without reaching at least ane Super Bowl.

Last season, Rodgers broke Favre's franchise record of 442 career touchdown passes, finishing the season with 449. Depending on how much longer he plays, Rodgers has a chance to break several of Favre's other records, including career passing yards.

Rodgers' 2021 MVP flavour likewise was marked by COVID-19 controversy, when he was accused of misleading the public about his vaccination status by maxim in Baronial that had been "immunized." Rodgers tested positive for COVID-xix on Nov. 3, at which point it became known that he had not received one of the three league-approved vaccinations simply instead had appealed -- and lost -- his bid to be considered vaccinated against the coronavirus because of an alternate treatment he underwent.

Still, Rodgers had one of his most efficient seasons, with 37 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He missed one game, a loss at the Kansas City Chiefs, because of his mandatory quarantine as an unvaccinated actor, merely it did not prevent the Packers from earning the top seed for the NFC playoffs.

When Rodgers signed his then-record $134 one thousand thousand contract extension in August 2018, he said: "I don't think this guarantees anything other than possibly the first three years of the deal."

Four years after, he's back for more.

ESPN's David Purdum contributed to this report.