{"id":127235,"date":"2021-12-30T11:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T16:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=127235"},"modified":"2021-12-30T08:29:06","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T13:29:06","slug":"nfl-rumors-aaron-rodgers-sam-darnold-cam-akers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/12\/30\/nfl-rumors-aaron-rodgers-sam-darnold-cam-akers\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Rumors: Aaron Rodgers Retirement, Sam Darnold Future, Cam Akers Playing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is having a fantastic season but, according to the latest NFL rumors, this could be his last. In other news, Sam Darnold isn\u2019t worried about his future, while Cam Akers is reportedly anxious to make his return to the field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>NFL Rumors: Aaron Rodgers, Sam Darnold, Cam Akers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Aaron Rodgers Teases Retirement<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aaron Rodgers has been at the heart of NFL gossip for over a year now. Between trade requests, a toe injury, and a highly unscientific stance on COVID-19, the quarterback has always found a way to stay in the spotlight. Earlier in the week, the one-time Super Bowl champion wouldn\u2019t commit to playing in 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m just enjoying this season for this season, and playing next year will <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ByRyanWood\/status\/1476282311310258182\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">definitely be in the though process<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u201d Rodgers said, adding that he didn\u2019t want to end his career on a low note.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For those that missed the offseason drama, Rodgers spent a good portion of the summer trying to facilitate a trade away from the Green Bay Packers. After a trade failed to come to fruition, the quarterback returned and has played some of the best football of his career. Through 14 games, Rodgers has completed 68% of his passes for 3,689 yards, 33 touchdowns, and four interceptions. If this is the final year for Rodgers in Green Bay, he\u2019s going out on a high note.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gotta be the 37 seconds that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Packers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Packers<\/a> fans will never forget&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Nobody does it like Aaron Rodgers <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6c4aoRKCoT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/6c4aoRKCoT<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/93xnhgdLsk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/93xnhgdLsk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Eli Berkovits (@BookOfEli_NFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BookOfEli_NFL\/status\/1475895562188644353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 28, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Sam Darnold Not Worried About Future<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Carolina Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold is going to start for the remainder of the 2021 season, but that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019ll be starting in 2022. While he is under contract, Darnold\u2019s combination of injury and ineffectiveness means that the Panthers could very well look for a new starter next year. However, Darnold isn\u2019t letting the thought of a backup role get him down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m really <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.panthers.com\/news\/sam-darnold-focusing-on-what-s-in-front-of-him\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">focused on this week<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, to be completely honest with you,\u201d Darnold said. \u201cI\u2019m focused on New Orleans and focusing on what we can do to win the ball game on Sunday\u2026If I go out and start to worry about what these next couple of games mean and what the implications are for next year, that does nothing for me on Sunday.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regardless of what Darnold does over the next two games, it\u2019s safe to say the Panthers will bring in some form of competition. After a 3-0 start, Darnold\u2019s performance plummeted before suffering an injury against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/patriots\/\" target=\"_self\">New England Patriots<\/a>. The team then signed Cam Newton to decent money, but the former MVP couldn\u2019t do much of anything in his return to Carolina.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[pickup_prop id=&#8221;14922&#8243;]<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Cam Akers Ready To Return After \u201cMiraculous\u201d Recovery<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Achilles injuries are usually a kiss of death for running backs, but Cam Akers appears to be the exception to the rule. Just five months after his initial injury, the former second-round pick is back on the active roster. While he might not suit up in Week 17, head coach Sean McVay recently applauded Akers\u2019 seemingly superhuman recovery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe has done a nice job. He\u2019s been working really hard, obviously\u2026What he\u2019s been able to do is pretty special.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite returning to the active roster, McVay said that the team isn\u2019t going to rush him into service. \u201cI know he is anxious to get out there. I have no idea when we\u2019re going to get him back of if [he\u2019ll play]&#8230;Let the medical staff, coaches, GM\u2019s, and all that kind of stuff, figure that out. As far as what I\u2019m seeing from him, really only have we gone fast one time where he\u2019s been out there..last week he got a little bit of run in there and he looked good to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Akers clearly still working his way back and Darrell Henderson battling an injury of his own, look for Sony Michel to continue to lead this backfield. The former New England Patriot has performed admirably over the past month, recording 91% of the running back touches while providing strong support as a pass blocker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sony Michel is a dawwwwg <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jj0GIXl2IP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/jj0GIXl2IP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; HoldenCantor (@HoldenCantor) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HoldenCantor\/status\/1476039554952015877?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 29, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"h-Ytl79KSGpcmdnCzpzHAA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1361156317\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'h-Ytl79KSGpcmdnCzpzHAA',sig:'xuKoC4pFhKa8ggg3GSQfaHJNFTKYIaiUxAhtDZ8Gwhc=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1361156317',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NFL Rumors: Aaron Rodgers could consider retirement after this season, Sam Darnold not worried about his future, Cam Akers looks good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":127236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,25,34],"tags":[275,5578,7460,7473,7661,1535],"class_list":["post-127235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-panthers","category-packers","category-rams","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-cam-akers","tag-green-bay-packers-news","tag-los-angeles-rams-news","tag-panthers-featured","tag-sam-darnold"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}