Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers showed us right from the outset that he was going to be a special quarterback during his rookie season in the NFL. 

Aaron Rodgers was put in one of the most unenviable positions in professional sports when he came into the NFL. Not only was he taken in the first round, which is pressure enough regardless of who drafts you, and not only was it to one of the most storied franchises in the league in the Green Bay Packers, but he also had to follow in the footsteps of Brett Favre, one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game. 

It’s the equivalent of taking over Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson left, and as the past few years have shown, that task is far from easy to accomplish, but with the added pressure of it being your first ever job in management and having to learn a lot on the fly. 

When you add to that he was made to sit and wait for a number of years whilst Favre went back and forth with possibly retiring, and his first few years in the league were certainly a rocky start and could very easily have derailed him if he didn’t handle things correctly.

Luckily though, he did. 

The Green Bay G.O.A.T?

Despite having to wait a few years to get make his mark on the league, he certainly made it count when he finally got a chance to shine.

With 55,360 passing yards and 449 touchdowns under his belt in a career, a Super Bowl back in 2010 and 4 NFL MVP awards during his career, including in both of the last two seasons, Rodgers has placed himself in the discussion as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and arguably the greatest player in the history of the Packers.

And given how far back they go as a franchise and all the great players that have donned the green and yellow over the years, being that high on the list is certainly no easy feat to accomplish. But as the saying goes, we all have to start somewhere.

Giving us a taste

Rodgers was blooded very slowly into the NFL, with a few snaps during the preseason before playing in three games in the regular season back in 2005, but even in those little flashes in preseason, he showed us exactly what we were in for when he finally reached his prime once Favre had moved out of Lambeau Field:

It makes you wonder what kind of numbers he would have put up if he’d been able to start in his first few years and whether or not the Packers would have won any more championships with him under centre during his younger days.