GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Retirement crossed Ahmad Brooks' mind.

The San Francisco 49ers had just cut him last month. The Bay area -- first San Francisco, then San Jose -- had been his home for the past nine years.

Maybe he would just go back to his native Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., with his three kids, ages 9, 2 and 1.

"I was pessimistic at first because I was afraid of change, you know what I'm saying?" Brooks said. "I'm so comfortable being where I'm at, having a house and my family and stuff like that. Everything felt established, man. It was just the uncertainty, you know? I didn't know what to expect. I was kind of scared. I was kind of afraid."

Ahmad Brooks had at least six sacks in each of the past six seasons. Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire

But there was Brooks on Monday with a smile on his face and a new NFL home with the Green Bay Packers. He visited the Packers last week and quickly agreed to a one-year deal that could pay him up to $5 million.

Brooks spent all weekend taking a crash course in Dom Capers' defense, then hit the practice field on Monday for the first time. The 33-year-old expects to be ready for a significant role in Sunday's season opener against the Seattle Seahawks.

"Now that I'm here and got around the fellas, started loosening up, started easing up, and my personality can start coming out now," Brooks said.

It wasn't that Brooks didn't think there would be interest in his services. Even in his 10th season last year, he showed the same kind of consistent production he has had throughout his career, which includes 53.5 sacks. For the sixth straight season, he posted at least six sacks.

"I knew somebody was going to pick me up," Brooks said.

But he didn't want to play for just anybody.

"Right, so when Green Bay called my agent, I was like, 'OK, I can go to Green Bay,'" he said. "But then when I came out to Green Bay, I was like, 'Green Bay's not the city.' I'm so used to being in Washington, D.C., being in San Francisco, San Jose. Even when I got drafted by Cincinnati, you've got more of a city feel."

Brooks offered all the requisite praise for his new situation -- the chance to play for a Super Bowl contender and with an MVP-caliber quarterback among the platitudes -- but also offered an honest reason for why agreed to come to the Packers.

"I just think that Green Bay offered me the best contract," Brooks said. "They had the best team. I wanted to be a part of a winning tradition, a winning organization. And coming here gives me that."

The addition of Brooks is akin to the Packers' signing of Julius Peppers three years ago. Both were 33 years old when they came to Green Bay and were looking to resurrect their careers.

So did Brooks really contemplate retirement before the Packers called?

"Yeah, I thought about it," he said.

When asked why, he said: "I don't know, man. That thought came into my mind."