Will Aaron Rodgers retire? It’s a better financial decision than holding out

Aaron Rodgers is better served financially to retire than to hold out with the Green Bay Packers.

With Aaron Rodgers skipping mandatory minicamp for the Green Bay Packers, this could lead to a long-term holdout from the reigning NFL MVP.

Even if Rodgers may want to leave Green Bay now, he does have an opt out of his contract for 2022. While all signs point to him playing his latter years in the NFL elsewhere, it makes more sense financially for him to briefly retire than to hold out with the Packers this summer and into the 2021 season. Both pathways are still incredibly costly, but there are advantages to retiring.

Over at Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio explains exactly why Rodgers’ wallet would prefer retirement to holding out for the duration.

Green Bay Packers: Aaron Rodgers should briefly retire, instead of holding out

Even better, for a guy who opts to retire, he gets a little more leeway than a player who fails to report during the season. If Rodgers were to hold out, he would have to report by Week 10 to be able to accrue an NFL season, whereas that would now be Week 13 for a retired player with the expanded 18-week season in place. Week 8 is also when the 2021 NFL trade deadline falls.

Ultimately, it will cost Rodgers plenty to not show up to Packers training camp or regular season this year. While being able to recoup that $2 million for missing training camp is a positive, it really is chump change for a multimillionaire superstar quarterback. But with the inherent flexibility for retired players as opposed to those who hold out, this is an option for him.

If Rodgers does not show up to camp, he is better served financially to retire than to hold out.