Aaron Rodgers took over the Green Bay Packers starting job when Brett Favre left the team after the 2007 NFL season. Favre was 38 when he ended up leaving Green Bay, although he moved on to play for the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings, finally retiring when he reached the age of 41. Rodgers talked to ESPN about his career and said that he wants to play at least as long as Favre did but he wants to remain with the Packers his entire career.
Rodgers and Brady
Of course, this statement likely has little to do with Brett Favre and more to do with Tom Brady.
At the age of 39, Brady won his record-breaking fifth Super Bowl. The Green Bay Packers quarterback is only 33 but has only won one Super Bowl in his career so far. He would have to win four more Super Bowls in the last six years if he wanted to tie Brady’s record, something that is almost impossible for any team to achieve regardless of how good they are.
However, Tom Brady is still the quarterback for the New England Patriots team that is the odds-on favorites to win the Super Bowl once again – at the age of 40. With that said, there are still many Green Bay Packers fans who argue that Aaron Rodgers is a better quarterback than Brady even without the Super Bowl wins. It is the same argument as people in the ‘80s made when claiming that Dan Marino was a better quarterback than Joe Montana.
Can Rodgers catch up to Brady
Tom Brady is 40 and still competing for Super Bowl titles is not normal. Looking at Brett Favre, who was pushed out of Green Bay when he was 38 is actually closer to accurate for NFL quarterbacks. Even Peyton Manning, who at one time was in the argument as the best quarterback of all time, broke down in his final season.
He still won a Super Bowl at the age of 39 but he had one of the worst seasons of his career.
If Aaron Rodgers achieves his dream of remaining the Green Bay Packers quarterback at the age of 40, that would give him six more seasons to try to improve his ranking in the realm of NFL quarterbacks. He won’t catch Tom Brady when it comes to Super Bowl titles but he can put up numbers that can compete with anyone.
If Rodgers can last until 2023 as the Packers starting quarterback, he might go a long way in passing names like Brett Favre and Bart Starr as the best quarterback in Green Bay history.
In his 12 years in Green Bay, nine of them as the starting quarterback, Aaron Rodgers has a 104.1 career quarterback rating with 36,927 passing yards, 297 touchdowns, and only 72 interceptions. He won a Super Bowl in 2010 and was named the MVP. He also won the NFL MVP Award in 2011 and 2014.
