There must be something about taking snaps under center at Lambeau Field that gets into people’s blood: nobody ever wants to stop. Brett Favre did for sixteen years until he was traded to the New York Jets at the age of 38. Aaron Rodgers, who will turn 34 in December, has spent the entirety of his 16-year-and-counting NFL career in the storied green and gold and has no plans of putting on a different uniform anytime soon.
When Fox Sports asked Rodgers where he thinks he’ll be come his 40th birthday, the six time pro-bowler said, “Hopefully, right here.”
“I’d like to finish things here where we started,” he added.
He knows there are contingencies: “I’m a realist, as well,” he said. “I have to play well, the team has to want to bring me back.”
At this point, the Packers would be crazy not to want Rodgers back for as long as he can pick up a football. Since Rodgers took over the starting duties from Favre, the team has missed the playoffs just once. They have won a Super Bowl (2010) and appeared in three NFC championships (2010, 2014, 2016).
Last year, after the Packers started 4-6, there were murmurings that Rodgers was getting old. His stats were solid—for the first ten games, he averaged 276 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception per game—but when you’re not winning, people start wondering whether you’re over the hill.
After the team’s fourth consecutive loss, in week 11, Rogers said they would run the table. They did, finishing the regular season with six straight victories and adding two playoff wins to earn the opportunity face-off with the Falcons in the NFC Championship Game.
The greatest players get more resilient as they get older. Last year, a 39-year old Tom Brady spurred the Patriots to overcome the largest deficit in Super Bowl history, picking up his fifth Super Bowl ring. During the regular season, he threw 28 touchdown passes and just 2 interceptions, posting the lowest interception percentage in the league (0.5)
Brady will turn 40 this year, in his 17th season in the league. Like Rodgers, he has spent his entire career with a single team.
Rodgers said of Brady, per FoxSports, “Being around him a few times, I see his approach. He’s got really good habits, and not just his eating habits, which are well-documented. But he’s got a preparation routine that works for him. Obviously, he’s one of the most talented guys to ever play the position. When you combine that with a high IQ and then really good habits on and off the field, you’re going to see sustained greatness.”
In 2009, when Brett Favre turned 40, FoxSports points out, he recorded career highs in completion percentage (68.4) and quarterback rating, leading the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game.
The greats move comfortably into their roles as veterans, as Favre has done, as Brady has done, as Rodgers has done and continues to do. Of his relationship with coach Mike McCarthy, under whom he has played for his entire career, Rodgers said, ““It’s [more] fun having conversations with Mike at this time of my career than maybe 2008, when I was just kind of learning what it meant to be a starter and where my input was wanted or even needed,” Rodgers said. “Now, it’s a free-flowing conversation. It’s talking about real football and real things that happen on the field and real adjustments you can make. I live for those conversations.”
Rodgers is maturing, has matured, on as well as off the field, and the great football minds around him are aware. With 33 rookies on the Packers’ roster this year, Rodgers will have ample opportunity to take on a mentoring role.
As for the reason he wants to remain with a single team in an era in which loyalty is undervalued, Rodgers says, “It’s being a sports fan and watching some of my favorite all-time players [Rodgers named Michael Jordan and Joe Montana specifically] either not finish in the place they started or the place where you fell in love watching them play.”