Yes, Tom Brady has won all those Super Bowls. But for my money, nobody exceeds Aaron Rodgers in terms of football intelligence and quarterbacking skills.
Aaron Rodgers’ best years are probably behind him, and the end of a great career is drawing near. Green Bay’s star quarterback will turn 36 this December. Unless he pulls a Barry Bonds, Rodgers numbers and performance are destined to decline.
For those who say, “just look at Tom Brady and Drew Brees,” I say this. First, their numbers are declining–despite team successes. Second, Brees and Brady play a completely different style from Rodgers.
Rodgers, on the other hand, holds the ball, trying to create a play with his arm or legs. That approach makes him injury-prone, while players like Brees and Brady rarely get dirt on their jerseys.
Courtesy: UPI
In 2013, Rodgers broke his collarbone, missing the final seven games of the season. Since then, he’s had to come out of games and take plays off because of the hits he was taking.
Then, in 2017, Rodgers was sidelined by injury again, missing the final nine games of the season. That injury, among others, forced Rodgers to play hurt the entire 2018 season.
It was clear to anybody watching Rodgers last year that he just wasn’t right. If Green Bay hadn’t been fighting for a playoff spot late last season, I doubt Rodgers would have played all 16 games.
All in all, I don’t see Rodgers on the field for another five seasons. To prolong his career, he’d have to become a pocket quarterback–and that isn’t his style. Besides, he didn’t get to where he is today by playing that style. He got to be one of the NFL’s all-time greats playing the way he has.
For those who remember, Rodgers replaced Green Bay legend Brett Favre by coming out balling! He led the Packers to a win over the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, earned MVP honors, and cemented himself in Packer lore.
Fans quickly realized that Rodgers–at his best–could do just about anything on the field.
It’s because Rodgers has high intellect, deceiving speed, a rocket arm, incredible accuracy, escapability, extreme awareness, and a complete will to win.
Rodgers has the best touchdown-to-interception ratio in league history. He carried the Packers to the postseason year after year–even though he rarely had championship talent surrounding him. We watched the Packers win with an average run game, an average defense, a terrible offensive line, and workable (but not great) receivers.
Once Rodgers proved he was an MVP, people began to speak of him as (perhaps) the best quarterback of all-time–not just better than Tom Brady and Peyton Manning (guys who were collecting Lombardi Trophies annually), but THE BEST quarterback ever!
At the very least, it was easy to see that Rodgers had incredible knowledge of football and multiple tools to match. What set Rodgers apart is that he could connect the two by using those gifts to a maximum.
The problem with evaluating players–quarterbacks, especially–is that the yardstick is often the number of Super Bowl wins. To me, that’s ridiculous! Are you gonna’ tell me that Terry Bradshaw was better than Dan Marino because Bradshaw won four Super Bowls and Marino didn’t win even one?
When Aaron Rodgers’ career is over, I’ll look back and have him ranked in the top 3-5 quarterbacks of all-time. If it weren’t for Brady’s incredible resume, I’d go so far as to say that Aaron Rodgers would be the GOAT.
Even then, there’s one thing I know for sure: Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback I’ve ever seen.
