In many ways, this year has been Aaron Rodgers’ coronation.
He has played exceptional football since becoming a starter for the Packers in 2008, throwing for over 4,000 yards and 28 TDs in his first season, but he was largely flying below the radar screen in the shadow of Brett Favre those first two years. As recently as last season, he was regarded as a very good NFL quarterback, but few put him on the same level as Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees – the “elites.” That has all changed in the last 12 months.
Rodgers put together a post season last year that is now legendary – almost 1,100 passing yards, 9 TDs, 2 INTs, 109.8 passer efficiency, capped off with a Super Bowl MVP. He followed it up with a record setting season this year – recording the highest single season passer rating in NFL history, beating Manning’s 2004 season. He also has the career records for highest passer rating – both regular season (104) and post season (112).
The conversation changed from whether he was “elite” to whether he was the best in the game… or the best ever. It is still a bit early for the “best ever” conversation, but if he keeps playing at the level he has for the last 12 months, that will be a fair question. Few have ever had the type of year he has – Manning in 2004, Brady in 2007, Marino in 1984. Combine it with one (and shooting for two) Super Bowl victories, and he could very soon be in the conversation of whether he belongs on the Mount Rushmore of NFL quarterbacks.
But what about the man and what got him here? Rodgers is an interesting mixture. He has complete confidence in his own abilities, combined with a chip on his shoulder to prove himself, which he talks openly about in his ESPN E:60 interview. The combination gives him the drive to keep getting better and the assured knowledge that there isn’t anything he can’t do on a football field.
It’s a recipe that a lot of the great ones exhibit – think of Tom Brady talking about being passed over in the first five rounds of the draft before going with pick 199, or Michael Jordan, speaking in his Hall of Fame induction speech about being passed over for varsity as a high school freshman. Even after 6 NBA titles, Jordan still remembers struggling to make the high school team. The chip provides the fuel that drives the great ones.
Rodgers grew up as a 49ers fan in Chico California. He was a great natural athlete, and always had confidence in his abilities.
“Confidence is something I’ve never really lacked,” Rodgers said. “That, to me, is the most important quarterback trait because you have to have confidence in yourself to instill confidence in your teammates.”
But he was a late bloomer, and as a high school senior, he only stood 5-foot-11. He wanted to play quarterback at Florida State, but they weren’t interested. In fact, no Division I school was interested. He kept all of his rejection letters as motivation while he went to start at a junior college.
“Far too much weight is put into your height, your weight, your 40-time, your bench press,” Rodgers says. “The things you can’t measure – your character, your confidence, your mental toughness, your physical toughness – not as much weight is put into that.”
Finally, Jeff Tedford, the head coach at Cal Berkely, came to scout a receiver at Butte College, where Rodgers was playing quarterback. He had grown to 6-foot-2 by then and showed the skills that he always knew he had. Tedford watched one play of video, and told Butte’s coach that Rodgers was the best quarterback he’d ever seen, and that he’d play in the NFL one day.
Once he got to Cal, he lit things up and was considered one of the top 2 quarterbacks in the draft in 2005. His boyhood favorite team, the 49ers, had the number one overall pick and it came down to Rodgers or Alex Smith. When the 49ers passed on him, he fell all the way to the 24th pick, where he was selected by the Green Bay Packers. There, he had the opportunity to learn the offense without pressure to immediately start, but he was following a Hall-of-Fame quarterback.
When he finally did get to start, he had a tough task – he had all the ability in the world, but he couldn’t compete with the memory of a legend until he’d earned his own Lombardi Trophy. His first two seasons, he passed for over 4,000 yards and at least 28 touchdowns, but Favre was still in the league drawing attention, and the Lombardi trophy still eluded him. (Perhaps Steve Young, following in Montana’s footsteps, is the only one who can truly sympathize, and it took him three years to eventually get that famous monkey off his back.)
Rodgers finally accomplished the goal of bringing Coach Lombardi’s trophy home to Green Bay, and followed his Super Bowl MVP with an MVP season and one of the great quarterback years of all time. He has exorcised the ghost of Farve so effectively that wide receiver Greg Jennings, who played 2 years with Favre and four with Rodgers, said he’d take Rodgers over Favre.
“They both bring different things to the table, but, honestly, right now, I definitely have to go with — you can’t take away what Brett has done — but I am gonna go with Aaron,” Jennings said. “His body of work at such a young age, his attention to detail, his discipline, I think it’s really second to none and I think it’s unparalleled.”
He has undoubtedly earned his place at the table, and is starting to be considered among the all time greats. And on top of all that, he’s still only 28-years-old, and just hitting his prime as an NFL quarterback.
Rodgers has also shown a quiet, good natured sense of humor that only adds to his appeal with Midwestern Packers’ fans. Whether it is an outtake real of him laughing with an elderly co-star or his everyman-style reaction to the Mark Sanchez GQ spread earlier this season, where he said, “That’s embarrassing. Page 94 of the GQ thing here. That’s terrible.” (Be honest – a lot of us were thinking that.)
He is possibly the best quarterback in the game right now, and he is also the kind of guy that you’d love to sit down and have a beer with. What more could a fan want?
