Aaron Rodgers Wants To Win 2 Super Bowls With New York Jets, Then Retire

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sat down with the guys from "Pardon My Take" and delivered one of the more interesting interviews of the NFL off-season. 

Rodgers addressed several intriguing storylines, including how many years he has left playing football, his iconic entrance into last year's season opener holding the American flag and why football is now "easy." 

First, let's talk about Rodgers' goal for his New York Jets career. The veteran quarterback is 40 years old and coming off of an Achilles injury. Still, he wants to win TWO Super Bowls with the Jets before riding off into the retirement sunset. 

But he admits that losing last season might have hurt that goal. And he still only commits, officially, to playing this year. Have to keep the drama going next off-season, right? 

Now, despite all the drama with Aaron Rodgers, he did have a very cool moment about 30 minutes before his season ended. 

The New York Jets opened on Monday Night Football at home against the Buffalo Bills. Rodgers ran onto the field carrying a giant American flag, and it was an awesome moment. 

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers runs onto the field holding the American Flag prior to the team's 2023 season-opening game against the Buffalo Bills. 

(Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports)

That moment also created a hilarious meme that has been widely used on the Internet since. 

"As someone who's patriotic, who sings the national anthem, you have to respect that moment," Rodgers said to "Pardon My Take" co-host Dan Katz. 

"It's one of those moments where you're thankful you didn't do something really stupid," Rodgers added. 

He also said he almost didn't carry the flag because he had never run onto the field holding anything before. 

"It was one of the coolest moments of my career," he said. 

Finally, there was a discussion about the differences between the NFL from when Rodgers started his career to now. 

The biggest difference that Rodgers noted was simple: Football isn't "even that hard [any more]." 

Now, people are going to dissect this comment, but it made sense in context. Rodgers notes that when he first came into the league, teams practiced A LOT. They had two-a-days in the middle of summer. 

Coaches worked players to complete exhaustion. But with all the concerns about health and safety crippling society, that doesn't exist anymore. 

Rodgers noted that veterans don't play in the preseason, and they barely practiced. 

The conversation led Rodgers to a new slogan: "Make football hard again." 

Say what you want about Aaron Rodgers, but he remains one of the more interesting professional athletes today. 

That being said, all that matters in this profession is performance. No one will care what Rodgers says into a microphone if he leads the Jets to the Super Bowl, like his stated goal. 

But if he struggles, or gets hurt again, expect the media machine to rip him for missing training camp to go to Egypt and generally not seeming to take it that seriously.

Football is probably a lot easier for Rodgers these days, since he's barely in the team building. 

We'll find out how easy it is on the field, though.