Aaron Rodgers wants to still be playing for the Packers when he’s 40

Aaron Rodgers is only 33, but Tom Brady’s 40th birthday has the Packers quarterback thinking ahead. Rodgers doesn’t just want to be playing when he’s 40. He wants to still be playing for the team that drafted him back in 2005.

“I do think it’s realistic,” Rodgers said, according to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “I hope it’s in this locker room, though. That would mean it’s been at a high level.”

Continuing to play at a high level is the key, because Rodgers knows that if he doesn’t, there’s no reason for the team to keep him around. But there’s another reason, too. He knows his legacy will be more meaningful if he doesn’t finish his career with another team.

Rodgers grew up in northern California, and as a young 49ers fan, he was disappointed that Joe Montana finished his career with the Kansas City Chiefs. Rodgers also had a first-row seat to Brett Favre’s retirement, and surely took note of how Packers fans responded to both of Favre’s un-retirements.

“It’s being a sports fan and watching some of my favorite all-time players either not finish in the place they started or the place where you fell in love watching them play — or they did,” Rodgers said. “And seeing how different the memory is of those players as a fan, and seeing some of my favorite players growing finishing up now or have finished up in the last two or three years — the Derek Jeters, the Kobe Bryants, the Tim Duncans — doing it their entire career in one place, that makes things pretty special.

“So again, I’m a realist as well. I have to play well, the team has to want to bring me back, but I’ve said I’d like to finish things here where we started.”

For what it’s worth, Mike McCarthy thinks Rodgers is fully capable of staying at the top of his game until he’s 40.

“I wouldn’t be surprised by it, with some good fortune,” McCarthy said at the 2017 combine. “As far as the conditioning and the level of conditioning from the guy, it’s off the charts.”

Rodgers is entering his 13th NFL season, but he’s only been Green Bay’s starter since 2008, after Favre retired for the first time. Brady took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe in his second season, so he’s got a couple of extra years of wear and tear that Rodgers escaped. Still, Brady was clearly at the top of his game last season, with 3,554 yards, 28 touchdowns and just two picks over 12 games.

In 2016, Rodgers finished the season with 4,428 yards, 40 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. As long as he keeps it up, there’s no reason to think Rodgers won’t be right there in Green Bay when his 40th birthday rolls around.