Football fans everywhere have had plenty of opportunities to get to know Aaron Rodgers over the past 12 months. The 4-time NFL Most Valuable Player has a statistical resume that ranks among the greatest. One of his more storied feats is his career passer rating, which ranks at number one with a rating of 102.6. That means he has a legitimate claim as the best-throwing quarterback ever. Ahead of recent superstars like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson and past legends like John Elway, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, or Terry Bradshaw, everyone!
The passer rating formula accurately determines a quarterback’s overall performance throughout a season and career. It factors in overall completions, yards of completion, and touchdown-to-interception ratio. The rating offers a category for determining who is the best in the pocket. Without question, the best is Aaron Rodgers.
With that said, the past 12 months, and ever since his departure from Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers’ personal eccentricities have captivated fans on a deeper level. His recent documentary Enigma profiles his journey from a strict, religious, and working-class upbringing in Chico, California, where he harnessed his throwing skills as an undersized high school quarterback in high school, and then grew in size, skill, and maturity to lead Butte College to various JUCO titles as a freshman. Rodgers points to his later time at Cal during his Sophomore and Junior seasons when he became a critical thinker.
He gives viewers inside access to the intricacies of a psychedelic trip, or more specifically, a group of friends and ex-NFL teammates partaking of Ayahuasca at a retreat in Costa Rica. In a softer but equally definitive way, Rodgers takes charge and leads like he would on the football field. The man is the center of attention in every domain of his life.
This is why, at the age of 40, the prospect of Aaron Rodgers having to eat a slice of humble pie, similar to when he surprisingly slid to 24th in the 2005 draft, might seem too daunting even to consider. However, as the docu-series most adamantly alluded to, Aaron Rodgers wants to continue playing well into his 40’s. He also wants to win Championships. This is his goal, and anyone who has paid any attention to the career of Aaron Rodgers knows he will not stop shy of his goal. It will be accomplished with full force.
Those Championships, however, will not come in the NFL. The humility that now faces Aaron Rodgers is a choice for how he wishes to complete his remarkable legacy as a football player. It would seem inconceivable that he should retire.
It is also unlikely that an NFL team will trust Aaron Rodgers to lead them to the playoffs at this time. Although his tenure with the Jets has been impressive at times, and despite miraculously returning from a full-blown Achilles tendon tear and finishing the season with the Jets last year, no team will be willing to make their franchise all about him at 41.
Aaron Rodgers should consider the second pathway: running in the Canadian Football League and winning a Grey Cup Championship. Indeed, NFL fans from coast to coast will laugh at this suggestion, but consider this: no quarterback has ever won a Super Bowl and a Grey Cup Championship.
Joe Thiesmann, who, after setting passing records at Notre Dame, decided to forego his chance to immediately play in the NFL after being drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the 4th round of the 1971 draft, signed and played 3 seasons with the Toronto Argonauts. Theismann led the Argonauts to a 10-4 record and an appearance in the 59th Grey Cup in 1971 against the Calgary Stampeders.
They would lose that game, and Theismann would leave the CFL for the then-Washington Redskins in 1974. Theismann would eventually win Super Bowl XVII over the Miami Dolphins in 1982 and lose the following year in Super Bowl XVIII to the then-Los Angeles Raiders.
The list of great quarterbacks to lead their teams to a Super Bowl and a Grey Cup appearance ends there. Warren Moon, who won a record five consecutive Grey Cups with the then Edmonton Eskimos, never appeared in a Super Bowl despite having a Hall of Fame-caliber career with the Houston Oilers.
The great Doug Flutie also went the route of the CFL after having little success early on in his NFL journey. Flutie would win 3 Grey Cups before having a later resurgence in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and the then-San Diego Chargers. He would retire as a CFL and Boston College legend but fell short of winning or appearing in a Super Bowl.
Aaron Rodgers is still very good, and his future in the NFL as a backup or a spot starter for a non-contending team in need of someone with experience is likely secure for another year. However, if winning is on his mind and he wants to go out hoisting a Championship trophy, the Canadian Football League is his best option. He can still appear for his weekly bit on the Pat McAfee show and share the intimate details of his ayahuasca trips with his loyal and growing audience. If he wants Championships, he will have to switch leagues and take a pay cut. Is Aaron Rodgers willing to consider this? We shall see.
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