Courtesy Of Sean McVay, Neither Tom Brady Nor Aaron Rodgers Is Leaving NFL

Here we go again.

Two words . . . Sean McVay.

You know, the NFL’s highest-paid coach who makes somewhere between $15 million and $18 million per year?

In case you haven’t figured it out by now with that clue, the most striking place Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers will go after the start of the 2023 NFL season is inside somebody’s huddle on game days.

It’s about the money.

Well, a lot of it is.

McVay doesn’t play quarterback like Brady or Rodgers. Then again, he used to, during his high school days in Atlanta, where he led his Marist team to a state championship with his brain (he talked his coaches into switching to a play for his game-winning touchdown run during the playoffs) and his brawn (he was prolific throwing or running).

He’s now the 36-year-old renaissance man of the Los Angeles Rams after he suggested following each of the past two seasons that he might prefer broadcasting NFL games over coaching them.

That seemed plausible. Even so, as the league’s youngest coach, McVay had two Super Bowl trips on his resume with the Rams, and he grabbed a Vince Lombardi trophy after the second one in February 2022.

He was the youngest NFL coach ever to do any of those things, but he contemplated bolting the Rams for the networks after winning it all. He stayed. Still, when his team collapsed this season with the worst record ever for a defending Super Bowl winner at 5-12, The Sean McVay Watch began again.

He didn’t go anywhere again.

As long as McVay remains on the Rams’ sidelines, he is slated to make all of that loot (see above) per season through 2026.

Just saying.

Which brings us back to Brady and Rodgers, both NFL dinosaurs. While Rodgers is 39 after 18 seasons in the league (all with the Green Bay Packers), Brady is 45 — forty five! — after spending two decades turning the New England Patriots into a dynasty with six Super Bowl rings. Then he left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers three seasons ago to win another one on his first try in town.

It’s been rough this season for those perennial Pro Bowlers. Rodgers had an epidemic of uneven moments during the first half of the regular season before he did enough to put the Packers a victory from making the playoffs.

All the Packers needed was to win their final game within the friendly and chilly walls of Lambeau Field. Instead, they choked to the Detroit Lions, owners of a 3-25 record in Green Bay during the previous 30 years.

At least Brady’s Buccaneers reached the postseason. Barely, and this was worse: At 8-9, they only captured the NFC South since they were slightly less awful than the other teams in their division. They were flattened 31-14 Monday night at home by the Dallas Cowboys, which was inevitable. The same went for the start of The Tom Brady Watch afterward.

It joined The Aaron Rodgers Watch.

Didn’t we go through this last year? Yep, and we’re back to McVay. If you wish to determine if a marquee personality in the NFL (or professional sports, for that matter) is staying or retiring, just follow the money.

On the Forbes’ list for the world’s highest-paid athletes earnings, Rodgers is No. 14 at $68 million. For the first time in Brady’s career, he played last season as the NFL’s highest-paid player, according to Forbes, at $75 million.

So, there you have it.

Not only that, but Brady wasn’t showing signs of needing a rocker anytime soon after he averaged more passing yards per game this season (351) than any quarterback not named Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills (352).

As for Rodgers, he had career lows for a full season in passer rating (91.1), passing yards (3,695) and touchdowns passes (25).

Nevertheless, Rodgers went on the “The Pat McAfee Show” Tuesday to say, “Do I still think I can play? Can I play at a high level? Yeah. The highest. I think I can win MVP again in the right situation. Right situation, is that Green Bay or is that somewhere else? I’m not sure, but I don’t think you should shut down any opportunity.”

Especially with $68 million attached to it.