Photo Credit: All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Even though he'd only ever worn a Green Bay Packers jersey up until this Monday, Aaron Rodgers has had one of the most eventful, most enigmatic, and strangest careers of any NFL quarterback to date. From draft day in 2005 to trade day in 2023, Rodgers has left his mark on the league, though whether that mark is a work of timeless art or just some opaque smudge is still TBD. With the 39-year-old now about to enter his nineteenth, year this is a good moment to take stock of the high- (and low-) lights of the ambiguously illustrious Aaron Rodgers.
Timeline of Events
How it Began:
2002: After receiving zero Division 1 scholarship offers out of high school, Rodgers accepts an opportunity to be the starting QB at nearby Butte Community College. He led the team to a 10 - 1 record and threw 26 touchdown passes.
2003-2005: Rodgers transfers to the University of California, where he eventually becomes the starting QB. He plays two fantastic seasons and leads Cal to a 10 - 1 record in his junior season, throwing for 2,566 yards and 24 TDs.
April 23, 2005: Rodgers becomes the unfortunate first in a long ESPN tradition of keeping the cameras rolling on the promising player who has to wait hours to hear his name called on draft day. Instead of being selected with the top pick by the San Francisco 49ers (who elect to take Alex Smith), Rodgers falls to pick #24, where the Green Bay Packers mercifully stop his slide, though the Pack still employ three-time MVP Brett Favre at QB. Rodgers will begin his career as a backup.
End of 2005 Season: Favre has arguably the worst season of his entire career, throwing just 20 TDs to a ghastly 29 interceptions while the Packers struggled through a 4 - 12 season. Rodgers appears in three games with no starts.
End of 2006 Season: Favre marginally improved on 2005 by throwing for 18 TDs versus 18 INTs, while helping the Packers improve to a 8 - 8. Rodgers appears in two games with no starts.
December 31, 2006: After suffering multiple personal tragedies, including his father passing away and his wife’s cancer diagnosis, Favre receives a standing ovation from the road fans at Soldier Field in Chicago after the game between the Bears and the Packers. Favre’s future is in doubt, and retirement is a very real possibility, though Favre eventually decides to return for his seventeenth season.
December 31, 2006: After suffering multiple personal tragedies, including his father passing away and his wife’s cancer diagnosis, Favre receives a standing ovation from the road fans at Soldier Field in Chicago after the game between the Bears and the Packers. Favre’s future is in doubt, and retirement is a very real possibility, though Favre eventually decides to return for his seventeenth season.
End of 2007 Season: Favre has a throwback season, leading the Packers to a 13 - 3 record while throwing for 28 TDs and finishing second in the MVP voting. Rodgers appears in two games, again making no starts, but does finally complete his first NFL TD pass.
Lessons in Irony:
March 4, 2008: Favre retires from the NFL, opening the door for Rodgers, after three years on the sidelines, to become the starting QB for the Packers.
July 11, 2008: Favre sends a letter to the Packers front office asking for his unconditional release so he can become a free-agent. The Packers decline.
July 12-28, 2008: Favre proceeds to make Rodgers' and the Packers’ lives a living hell as they try to prepare for life after the Hall of Fame QB.
July 29, 2008: Favre formally applies for reinstatement into the NFL.
August 7, 2008: The Packers trade Favre, who has held the team hostage for going-on three seasons with his will-he/won't-he retirement drama, to the QB-starved New York Jets (sound familiar?), finally allowing Rodgers to seize his starting opportunity.
February 6, 2011: Rodgers and the Packers defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. Rodgers throws three TDs and is named Super Bowl MVP.
February 4, 2012: Rodgers earns 48 of 50 first-place votes, winning his first NFL MVP.
January 31, 2015: Rodgers wins his second MVP while leading the NFL in touchdown to interception ratio.
April 23, 2020: The Packers, in a move reminiscent of selecting Rodgers himself, traded up with the Miami Dolphins from pick #30 to pick #26 to select QB Jordan Love.
February 6, 2021: Despite the rumblings that the Packers are thinking of moving on, Rodgers continues to dominate, winning his third MVP and setting a Packers record with 48 TD passes.
February 10, 2022: Rodgers wins his second consecutive MVP, and fourth overall, joining Peyton Manning as the only other player in NFL history to do so.
Going Green:
March 8, 2022: After weeks of conjecture about his future with the Packers, Rodgers announces that he will be returning to Green Bay for an eighteenth season.
April 27, 2022: Rodgers signs a contract-extension with the Packers worth over $150 million for the next three seasons, making him the highest-paid player on an average annual basis in North American sports history.
February 7, 2023: Rodgers makes his weekly appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, where he divulges that he will be going on a “darkness retreat” to contemplate his life and NFL career.
February 14, 2023: Rodgers makes another appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, this time going into greater detail about the “darkness retreat” and his hopes and expectations for the experience.
A cold February day somewhere in Oregon between February 14 and February 21: Rodgers enters the dark…-ness retreat.
February 22, 2023: Rodgers emerges from the dark…-ness retreat.
March 15, 2023: Rodgers makes a surprise appearance on the Pat McAfee Show to announce his intention is to play for the New York Jets in 2023.
Early April: After a couple weeks of seemingly stagnant talks between the Packers and Jets, the San Francisco 49ers suddenly appear in the national discourse as a potential Rodgers trade destination.
April 24, 2023: After a month of haggling, hand-wringing and press conferences, and after years of tension between Rodgers and the Packers, the Packers and Jets announce that they’ve agreed to terms on a trade sending the four-time MVP to New York.
And there you have it. Rodgers, after eighteen years with the Packers (and four MVPs), will be donning a different shade of green - just like his old mentor. Irony never cost so much.