Aaron Rodgers’ time with the Green Bay Packers could be coming to an end sooner rather than later, according to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Despite having said in the past that he was ‘definitely’ retiring as a member of the Green Bay Packers, the past few weeks have made it a pretty much 50-50 shot that quarterback Aaron Rodgers is even going to make a return to the team in 2023. 

Ahead of their ultimately season-ending loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 18, he spoke (via Yahoo Sports) about how whilst it would be the last game he would play at Lambeau Field this season, it might well be his last one ever as he stated ‘I’ve got a lot of great memories here’ and that ‘you don’t know what the future holds’.

He followed that up after the game by dropping some further cryptic messages that seemed to hint that his return to the team was far from guaranteed, and in recent days it seems as though the Packers are making moves to possibly make an exit that seemed impossible a few years ago, a reality. 

Aaron Rodgers on the road away from Green Bay?

Last week, noted ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter reported that ‘both sides’ realised that a trade was a very ‘real possibility’ (it should be noted that with a dead cap hit of roughly $100m, the Packers are highly unlikely to cut him), and that generated a lot of talk about just how teams interested in him might look to go about getting him. 

And now it seems as if the Packers have accepted the idea of moving on, as Schefter has further reported that:

An offseason trade of Aaron Rodgers remains an option for the Green Bay Packers for a variety of reasons, league sources told ESPN. A scenario that once seemed unthinkable, a Rodgers trade could be driven by financial reasons, the state of the Packers franchise and ultimately the feelings of the team and the star quarterback.

League sources believe the franchise prefers to move on from Rodgers, just as it once did with Brett Favre. Those sources also believe that Rodgers is well aware of the Packers' feelings on the situation.

So it seems as though, much like Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, what seemed like a partnership that was going to exist until the end of time, is going to come to an end. The only question now, is who is going to be willing to take him on, and do they have the capital to tempt the Packers to let him leave?