Aaron Rodgers had an offer to pursue a political career this summer. He chose football instead. Rodgers was on the short list of vice presidential possibilities for U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but took himself out of the running. The decision basically came down to football, which Rodgers would have had to give up.
“I love Bobby,” Rodgers said at the Jets press conference Tuesday. “We had a couple of really nice conversations. But there were really two options — retire and be his VP or keep playing. And I wanna keep playing.”
Kennedy is expected to run as an independent candidate this fall, attempting to upset current President Joe Biden and former President Donald J. Trump. Rodgers has been a public supporter of Kennedy, indicating he planned to vote for the environmental lawyer in 2024, and advocating for the politician’s stances on vaccinations and “medical freedom.”
The opportunity to become a vice president would have taken away football from the 40-year-old Rodgers, who is coming off an Achilles injury that impacted his entire 2023 season. Rodgers appears to be fully recovered in OTAs, nine months after suffering the injury.
There’s plenty to prove in 2024 for Rodgers, who is attempting to show he can still play at a high level one year after a severe injury. The only 40-year-old (not including kickers/punters) with that long of a layoff between games since 1970 was Steve DeBerg (1,750).
The Jets also have the NFL’s longest active playoff drought at 13 seasons and haven’t advance to a Super Bowl since winning Super Bowl III in the 1968 season. Rodgers wants to bring a championship to New York, so a political career will have to wait.
