There were a lot of surprises during the 10th annual “NFL Honors” show on Saturday night, but none of them were bigger than the one that came from Aaron Rodgers. After being named MVP for the third time in his career, the Packers quarterback used his acceptance speech to casually announce that he’s ENGAGED.
Rodgers started his speech by talking about how crazy things have been in 2020 and then he dropped a gossip bomb that no one saw coming.
“2020 was definitely a crazy year, filled with lots of change, growth, some amazing memorable moments, 180 straight days of having my nose hairs scraped, playing for very little fans,” Rodgers said. “I got engaged and I played some of the best football of my career.”
That’s about as casual as you’ll ever hear someone get when they’re announcing their engagement for the first time on national television. Later in the speech, Rodgers also thanked his “fiancée” without mentioning her by name.
As you can imagine, as soon as Rodgers made the announcement, it became a hot topic on Twitter and that’s mostly because no one seemed to have any idea that he was actually even dating anyone.
Rodgers dated Danica Patrick for just over two years, but the couple broke up at some point during the summer in 2020. If you’re wondering who Rodgers is engaged to, he didn’t say, but it’s probably not a coincidence that his people confirmed this week that he was in fact dating someone and that someone is actress Shailene Woodley.
The 37-year-old quarterback has known Woodley since at least July, but it’s not known how long they’ve been dating. According to E! News, Rodgers and the 29-year-old had been trying to pull off a long-distance relationship and it appears that things have worked out better than either could have imagined.
“They have seen each other and been in touch,” an insider told E!. “They continue to talk and see each other when they can. They are both focused on their careers but they also make time for each other.”
Although Rodgers just recently got out of his relationship with Patrick, the quarterback sounded like someone who might be in a new relationship during an appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show” in September. During the interview, Rodgers was asked by a caller why he looks so much happier this season.
“I have just a new and increased love of life and I’ve made decisions and changes and habits that put me in a lot better headspace,” Rodgers said. “And there’s just a lot of things that have come together in my life over the last few months that have really been enjoyable and reminded me and given me perspective — on life and in football — to view things through the most positive lens I possibly can and that’s why I’m having so much fun and it starts with love, and then surrounding yourself with people that you really enjoy.”
That sounds like a man who might be in love.
Now that Rodgers is engaged, everyone on Twitter has one question for Woodley, well, it’s more of a demand.
Dating during a pandemic is hard enough and finding someone to marry is even harder, but Rodgers seems to have done that.
As for that MVP speech where Rodgers first made his surprising announcement, you can see the entire thing below.
