In the words of Aaron Rodgers, it’s not goodbye but see you later. With his trade to the New York Jets now official, Rodgers thanked the Green Bay Packers in a heartfelt message posted on his Instagram.
“This is not the end for us, I will see you again Green Bay, you’ll always have my heart,” Rodgers wrote.
At some point, Rodgers will undoubtedly return for a proper send-off. A four-time MVP and Super Bowl Champion, Rodgers is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. He will be inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame and have his number retired on the Lambeau Field façade.
Still, it’s a bittersweet moment for the legendary quarterback who has spent the last 18 years forming close relationships with teammates, coaches, training staff, members of the front office and many others working behind the scenes. Rodgers did his best to thank them all.
“I’m grateful to the late Ted Thompson for drafting me, for my head coaches, especially the 13 years with Mike McCarthy, and the last 4 with Matt LaFleur. I had some incredible men to work with in the QB room over the years including Tom, AVP, Luke, and Connor.”
Huge thank you to my guys in the equipment room, Red, TBone, Odea, Kev, Bryan, Andy Grouber, All my dear friends in the training room over the years, Nate, Flea, Doc McKenzie, Doc Gray, Pepp, and Cuz. The legendary Adam Korzun and his incredible staff; Dougie, Crabby, and Scotty, for always looking out for me; Tom, Nate, Sarah, and Jason in PR, Evan for bringing my work life to film, The Rock and Wayne, for giving words to the highlights of my career, Grey, and Big Rob for your work with our guys over the years, Bloke, Thad, Grant and Gizz in the weight room, Bob Harlan, Russ Ball, Mark Murphy and Brian Gutekunst for your stewardship of the organization, every one on the 3rd and 4th floors who make that building run smoothly, and so many countless others at the loading dock, tours, concessions, maintenance, our field crew, etc.”
For the fans, this may have been the harsh realization that all of the incredible moments Rodgers delivered over the last 15 seasons as the starting quarterback are now over. However, for Rodgers, the fans are what made them even more special.
“To the fans, THANK YOU, you made every run out of the tunnel special, every home game magical, and it was my honor to be your QB.”
And with that, Rodgers is headed to New York, where the Jets will introduce him as the franchise quarterback in a press conference on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. EST.
