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The final pass of Aaron Rodgers’ illustrious NFL career may have been a pick-six. His former teammates are begging him to ensure that isn’t a reality.
Rodgers has long hinted that the 2025 season would be the last for him, regardless of how his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers went.
On Monday, he did not play well at all – getting strip-sacked for a ‘scoop-and-score’ and throwing a pick six to give up two fourth quarter touchdowns in a loss to the Houston Texans.
Rodgers was remarkably inefficient on a night where the Texans defense killed all his momentum. Now, he may be facing the reality that he’s walked off an NFL field as a player for the final time.
One of his longest tenured teammates, Davante Adams, hopes that isn’t the case as the former Packers and Jets wide receiver explained to Kay Adams.
‘Well, one, I’m heartbroken for him because I know how much he wants it, and I know how much he deserves it, obviously,’ the current Rams star said on the show.
Aaron Rodgers’ former teammates are urging him to not retire after a crushing playoff defeat
His former Packers and Jets teammate Davante Adams (17) wants a better ending for Rodgers
‘To see it end that way, to see that game end that way, that’s not how any of us saw it happening. I definitely don’t want his career to end that way. That’s one of my best friends, so that hurts me, hurts my heart a little bit to watch.
‘But ultimately, just hoping that there’s something left there for him to continue going. I just want to see him happy and see him at least finish the way that he deserves to finish.
‘I can’t say I don’t know what’s going to happen, and certainly haven’t gotten an answer from him on what he’s going to do, nor am I pressing him about trying to get an answer. Just letting him go through his process.
‘Anytime you play 21 years in this league, you’re in your 40s. I don’t know. Nobody’s talking me into playing when I’m in my 40s. I’m not going to be on his back about it, but it’s something that I definitely support just to see him go out the right way.’
Rodgers admitted, as reported in the game by ESPN’s Lisa Salters, that his career is ‘probably’ over after this game – further adding that ‘this feels like the end’.
But he didn’t reveal his future plans in the immediate moments after the defeat.
‘No, I’m not going to make any emotional decisions,’ Rodgers told reporters when asked after the game about his future, adding that the next steps involve a moment to ‘get away’ and ‘have the right conversations.’
The only points the Steelers scored on the night came from field goals on offensive drives number two and five.
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Should Rodgers listen to his teammates and come back for one more season?
Rodgers, 42, bowed out with a humiliating defeat to the Houston Texans in the AFC Wild Card
Rodgers was hassled by Houston’s defense and walked off the field for possibly the last time
As for the others? Six ended with punts, one ended with a Rodgers strip-sack and one ended on the aforementioned pick-six before the final drive of the game killed the clock on an embarrassing evening in the Steel City.
Rodgers wasn’t even given the courtesy of leading the final drive. After the pick-six, he was pulled for Mason Rudolph.
After exchanging handshakes at midfield, a sullen Rodgers walked off the field – hounded by cameras and cheered at by fans before heading down the tunnel and into the locker room.
Cameras caught him sharing a brief, yet seemingly meaningful, hug with Marques Valdez-Scantling – a receiver he often favored in Green Bay.
Rodgers tossed a pick-six as what may be the final throw of his storied football career
However, despite the feeling of a final ride for Rodgers, new reports from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport indicate there may be a change of heart for the quarterback.
‘You saw that embrace between Aaron Rodgers and [Steelers head coach] Mike Tomlin,’ Rapoport, a long-time NFL insider, said during a network appearance earlier on Monday. ‘That is real. Both of them have enjoyed the other this season.’
Rodgers signed a one-year, $13.6million deal with the Steelers after the Jets announced their intention to release him in early 2025.
It hasn’t been a perfect season for Rodgers, who threw for just 207.6 yards a game. But, with wins in five of their last six heading into the postseason, the 42-year-old is reportedly embracing his time in Pittsburgh.
‘Rodgers actually began the season openly stating that he believed it’d be his last year,’ Rapoport said. ‘Except, it’s gone so well in Pittsburgh, he’s shown enough offensively, he’s enjoyed his time in the locker room, that he’s open to returning for another season. I understand the Steelers would welcome this.’
