For months the entire sports world was clamoring for Aaron Rodgers to say something — anything — about his issues with the Green Bay Packers. And for months, the future Hall of Fame quarterback stayed silent. That ended Wednesday afternoon as Rodgers went into detail what kept him away from the team for the offseason and led many to believe he would not play for the Packers again.

“Yeah, that’s a loaded question,” Rodgers said when asked about his reasons before diving into an 854-word answer.

The next 5 minutes and 42 seconds were full of information but it can largely be boiled down to four points.

First, Rodgers made it clear during conversations with the Packers right after their season ended with a loss to Tampa Bay in the NFC title game that he wanted a bigger voice in decisions that impact the way he does his job, even pointing back to the hiring of Matt LaFleur as coach in 2018, which he had no role in.

“It’s decisions like that, that have happened over and over and over again, that make me realize that the organization looks at me and my job is just to play,” Rodgers said following the first practice of training camp. “In my opinion, based on what I’ve accomplished in this league, the way I care about my teammates, the way I show up in the locker room, the way I lead, the way I conduct myself in the community, should entitle myself to a little bit more input. The rules are the same for most people, but every now and then there’s some outliers. Guys who have been an organization for 17 years and won a few MVPs, where they can be in conversations at a different higher level. I’m not asking for anything that other other great quarterbacks across across the last few decades that have not gotten. The opportunity to just be in conversation.”

Rodgers even pointed to last summer when one day he was praising wide receiver Jake Kumerow in an interview and the next day he was part of the cuts. Those types of moves irked Rodgers and it added to his dislike of how the organization has dealt with important veterans near or at the end of their careers. He listed out the likes of Charles Woodson, Jordy Nelson, James Jones, Clay Matthews, John Kuhn, Randall Cobb and others.

“I wanted to help the organization maybe learn from some of the mistakes in the past, in my opinion, about the way that some of the outgoing veterans were treated,” Rodgers said. “And just the fact that we didn’t retain a number of players that I felt like were core players to our foundation, our locker room, high character guys.

“Guys who were exceptional players for us, but great locker room guys, high character guys, many of them who weren’t offered a contract at all, or we’re extremely low balled, or were, maybe in my opinion, not given the respect on their way out that guys of their status and stature and high character deserved.”

Rodgers also felt as though he should have a voice in helping recruit players in free agency, something that he said hasn’t happened during his tenure.

“I think we can all understand Green Bay isn’t a huge vacation destination. People are coming here to play with me and to play with our team, knowing that they can win a championship here,” Rodgers said. “And the fact that I haven’t been used in those discussions was what I wanted to change moving forward. And I felt like based on my years, the way I can still play, that that should be a natural part of conversation.”

But perhaps the biggest reason Rodgers stayed away as long as he did was the lack of commitment to him as the quarterback after 2021. Rodgers said he expected, after posting an MVP season in 2020, to be offered a contract extension even though his deal ran through the 2023 season. That didn’t come, at least not right away after the season. Rodgers said it wasn’t until after the draft, and after the story broke publicly about him being unhappy, that the team tried to throw money at the problem. At that point, though, it wasn’t about money. It was about trying to change the way the Packers have done business, quite successfully for that matter, for much of the last 30 years.

“As I’ve talked to some other older players around the league, I think this is how it goes, you get a little bit older, you see some of the disfunction in organizations, and you either move on or try and help foster some change,” Rodgers said. “And that’s all I wanted to do. Because I love this organization. And I love being a Packer and I’ve enjoyed my time here.”

There is still plenty of uncertainty around Rodgers’ future with the team. He was not ruling out anything in terms of whether he’ll be around after this season and he dismissed reports that indicated he would be able to choose where the Packers trade him, if that’s what they decided. He admitted that he had thoughts of retiring but the fire to play still burns inside of him, so, for now, he’s back and ready to make a run, potentially his last in Green Bay, at another Super Bowl title.

“There were things I needed to do, conversations I needed to have, to put myself in the right headspace to be able to come back here and to be 100% in, which my teammates and the organization expects and I expected myself,” Rodgers said. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t 100% all-in.”