Aaron Rodgers fuels retirement talk by REFUSING to swap his jersey with Jameson Williams after 20-16 loss eliminates Packers from playoffs, saying: ‘I gotta hold on to this one’

• Following the loss, Aaron Rodgers declined to give the Lions WR his worn jersey
• Postgame, he said it did not mean that he was likely to retire from pro football
• Though Rodgers did admit he needs to take time to decide what is next for him
• The reigning back-to-back MVP revealed he’ll have no regrets should he retire

Aaron Rodgers has fueled talk of his retirement from pro football after refusing to swap his shirt with Jameson Williams after Detroit Lions beat Green Bay Packers 20-16 to eliminate them from the playoffs.

Postgame the reigning back-to-back MVP admitted he’s unsure about his future and needs to take time ‘figure out what is best.’ If this were to be his final game in the NFL, Rodgers revealed he ‘would have no regrets.’

Williams was caught on camera postgame asking the quarterback if he can have his jersey, to which the 39-year-old Packers quarterback said: ‘I gotta hold on to this one.’

‘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,’ Rodgers said postgame.

‘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 was assertive postgame that he will not hold the Packers ‘hostage’ if he does decide he wants out, as speculation beings to heighten after yet another end of season failure.

The 39-year-old did give some thought to his NFL future,  and the potential for a move to a franchise outside of Wisconsin, when discussing his immediate feelings after the crushing loss.

‘I mean it’s a little raw right now,’ he said. ‘It’s a little bit out of the game I want to take the emotion out of it, have conversations and see where the organization 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.

As for whether the one-time Super Bowl winner would consider a move to another franchise?

‘I don’t know,’ Rodgers admitted. ‘I don’t like saying never but I’ve got to see how I am feeling first, once the emption is out of it. Have the right conversations and see what the best direction is.

‘I have a lot of pride in what I have accomplished in this league. I obviously didn’t get it done tonight. You don’t want to lose your last game and miss out on the playoffs but this is a great profession, a really tough business and it doesn’t always end in rainbows for people.’

‘Do I feel like I have anything left to prove to myself? Do I want to gear up for another grind? Or is it time to step away? Is it time for another voice to lead this team? I have a lot of pride in what I’ve accomplished in this league but I’m a realist.

We are a young team, there could be changes with some of the older guys and it could be time to step away. But I could take some time and say “Hell no, I need to get back out there.”‘

Rodgers’ season was not meant to end like this. The Packers were surging through the second half of the season and came into the home game vs. Detroit on a four-game win streak.

Green Bay were widely considered to be a threat for the upcoming postseason. Except, they won’t be there.

‘It was a frustrating season at times but there were some really beautiful moments, it is weird to say but I do really believe that,’ Rodgers said in the wake of the season-ending loss.

As disappointing as this is, there were some incredible moments and life lessons. As much as this is a real s****y feeling, I’m thankful for the season, the friendships, new friendships on and off the field. That’s the beauty of this game and I’m thankful for it.’

Leaving Lambeau Field in January with a hollow feeling is not uncommon for the Packers and Rodgers in recent years. In the previous two seasons, Green Bay lost at home as the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

In 2020, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Bucs won the NFC Championship Game before Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers took care of Green Bay in last season’s NFC Divisional Playoff.

Now, they will not even be a footnote in the playoffs. Its playoff story will be unwritten – and given his reaction postgame, perhaps Rodgers’ career in Green Bay has seen its final chapter.