BIOGRAPHY
Aaron Rodgers was born on December 2nd,1983 in Chico, California and currently plays Quarterback in the NFL.
Aaron was a huge sports fan growing up, nicknamed “Hurley” after his admiration for Sacramento Kings basketball player, Bobby Hurley. He attended Pleasant Valley High School, starting for two years at quarterback, garnering 4,421 passing yards and two all-section choice honors (2000-01). He set single-game records of six touchdowns and 440 all-purpose yards. Rodgers set a single-season school record with 2,466 total yards in 2001. If it wasn’t for his talents on the football field, Aaron could have made it as a baseball player. He was a star pitcher with a fastball clocking in at over 90mph. He graduated from Pleasant Valley High School in spring 2002.
Despite his record-setting high school statistics, Rodgers attracted little interest from Division I programs. Rodgers had wanted to attend Florida State and play under head coach Bobby Bowden but did not receive a scholarship. The only offer he received was to walk-on at the University of Illinois. He declined the invitation and considered quitting football to attend law school. After deciding to continue his passion of football, Aaron went the community college route and attended Butte Community College in Oroville about 15 miles of Chico. Idolizing Joe Montana, he would wear a Montana t-shirt underneath his uniform. Rodgers threw 26 touchdowns in his freshman season at Butte Community College, leading the school to a 10-1 record, the NorCal Conference championship, and a No. 2 national ranking. While there, he was discovered by the California Golden Bears’ head coach Jeff Tedford, who was recruiting Butte tight end Garrett Cross. Tedford was surprised to learn that Rodgers had not been recruited earlier. Because of Rodgers’s good high school scholastic record, he was eligible to transfer after one year of junior college instead of the typical two.
As a junior college transfer, Rodgers had three years of eligibility at Cal. He was named the starting quarterback in the fifth game of the 2003 season, against the only team that offered him a Division I opportunity out of high school, Illinois. As a sophomore, he helped lead the Golden Bears to a 7-3 record as a starter. Rodgers passed for 394 yards and was named game MVP in the Insight Bowl against Virginia Tech. Rodgers tied the school season record for 300-yard games with five.
As a junior, Rodgers led Cal to a 10-1 record and top-five ranking at the end of the regular season, with their only loss a 23-17 loss at No. 1 USC. In that game, Rodgers set a school record for consecutive completed passes with 26 and tied an NCAA record with 23 consecutive passes completed in one game. He set a Cal single-game record for passing completion percentage of 85.3. Overall, he finished the 2004 season with 2,566 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. His 66.1% pass completion percentage led the Pac-10.
Rodgers decided to forgo his senior season to enter the 2005 NFL Draft. Aaron impressed NFL scouts who labeled him a “talented strong-armed Junior who combines arm strength, mechanics and delivery to make all the throws.” Before the draft, Rodgers was confident that he would be drafted to the team he supported and grew up near, the San Francisco 49ers, who possessed the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. The 49ers, however, drafted quarterback Alex Smith out of Utah instead, and Rodgers went 24th overall to the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers’s going to the Packers was a clear indication the organization was looking to groom him to become the starter after future Hall-of-Famer Brett Favre retires.
Though Rodgers played very little in his rookie season, he ran the scout team during practice. Rodgers said this was critical to his success, and that those were his game reps. The defense and scouts often noted how hard he was practicing, and at one point asked him to tone it down. Wide receiver Donald Driver commented that Rodgers took “every scout-team possession like it was the last possession of his life.”
After backing up Brett Favre for the first three years of his NFL career, Rodgers became the Packers’ starting quarterback in 2008. He threw for 4,038 yards and 28 touchdowns. After his inaugural campaign as a starter, he followed up in 2009 with for 4,434 yards and 30 touchdowns, earning a trip to his first Pro Bowl, and becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 4,000 yards in both of his first two seasons as a starter.
In 2010, Rodgers threw for 3,922 yards, 28 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and a passer rating of 101.2, leading the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl XLV victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. His stellar performance earned him Super Bowl MVP honors. Rodgers also became the first player in NFL history to pass for at least 900 yards and rush for at least two touchdowns in a single postseason.
The 2011 campaign was one of the most prolific seasons of Rodgers career. He led the NFL with a record-setting 122.5 passer rating, most yards-per-attempt, and touchdown percentage in the league. He racked up 4,643 yards through the air while throwing for 45 touchdown passes and just six interceptions. It was perhaps the most efficient season ever turned in by a pro quarterback. He racked up a ton of hardware, including league MVP, AP Player of the Year and went on to his second career Pro Bowl.
Rodgers led the league for the second straight year in 2012 with a passer rating (108.0) touchdowns passing % (7.1%), and touchdown-to-interception ratio (4.875), while finishing second in touchdown passes (39), and third in completion percentage (67.2%). He was selected to his third Pro Bowl.
On April 26, 2013, the Packers and Rodgers agreed to a 5-year, $110 million contract extension making him the highest paid player in NFL history. He set an NFL record for 41 consecutive games without an interception. He finished the season with 2,536 yards, 17 touchdowns, 6 interceptions, and a 104.9 passer rating.
In 2014, Rodgers had 4,381 pass yards, 41 touchdowns, and just 5 interceptions. In Week 10 against the Chicago Bears, Rodgers became the second player in NFL history behind Daryle Lamonica to throw six touchdown passes in the first half of a game. He was voted the league Most Valuable Player, First Team All-Pro, and his fourth Pro Bowl.
Going into the 2015 season, Rodgers was ranked second among his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players. On December 3, 2015, in a Week 13 match-up against the Detroit Lions, Rodgers threw a Hail Mary pass caught by Richard Rodgers for 61 yards with 0:00 left to beat the Lions 27-23. The play was quickly dubbed as “The Miracle in Motown.” He was tied for number one in the league in completions of 25+ yards (39). Despite a down season by Aaron Rodgers standards, The Green Bay Packers made the playoffs, and he was named to his fifth Pro Bowl.
In 2016, he completed 401 of 610 passes (65.7%) for 4,428 yards, 40 touchdowns, and seven interceptions for a 104.2 passer rating. He ranked number one in the league in touchdown passes, the first Green Bay quarterback to do so since Brett Favre in 2003. He set a Franchise single-season record for completions and ranked number two in the NFL in touchdown percentage (6.6). Rodgers became just the second QB in NFL history (Tom Brady 2015) to post 600+ attempts and 7 or fewer interceptions in a season. He would be selected to his third consecutive and sixth overall Pro Bowl.
His 2017 season would be cut short, starting only seven games due to a collarbone injury. Despite the short season, Aaron completed 154 or 238 pass attempts (64.7%) for 1,675 yards and 16 touchdowns with six interceptions for a 97.2 passer rating.
The 2018 season started off with the signing of a four-year extension worth $134 million with a $57.5 million signing bonus. Rodgers finished the season with 372 completions, 597 attempts, 4,442 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 97.6. In week 5 Rodgers passed for 442 yards (the second-best of his career). In week 13 against the Atlanta Falcons, Rodgers set an NFL record by converting his 359th consecutive pass without an interception, breaking Tom Brady’s previous record. During Week 16 against the New York Jets, Rodgers finished with 442 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and two rushing touchdowns. He is the only player to achieve 400, 2, and 2. The only other time in NFL history that occurred was when Rodgers accomplished it in 2011 against the Denver Broncos. His touchdown to interception ratio of 25:2 ranks third-best all time (minimum 300 attempts). Rodgers also set a record for interception percentage for a season with only 0.335% of his passes being intercepted. He was named to his seventh Pro-Bowl.
Rodgers is the all-time regular season career passer rating leader. He has the best touchdown-to-interception ratio in NFL history at 4.23, holds the league’s lowest career interception percentage at 1.5 percent and the highest single-season passer rating record of 122.5.
When Aaron isn’t tearing apart defenses, he’s an avid TV watcher. In 2015, Rodgers appeared on and won an episode of Celebrity Jeopardy along with astronaut Mark Kelly and entrepreneur Kevin O Leary (from Shark Tank). In 2019, He appeared as an extra on his favorite show, “Game of Thrones.”
Not only is he considered one of the greatest football players of all time, but he’s also been dominating the business world with a new venture and growth stage fund, Rx3 Ventures, focused on consumer brands. His fellow general partners in the fund are Byron Roth, CEO and cofounder of Roth Capital Partners, and Nate Raabe, who formerly ran Roth’s private capital group. All three invested seven figures into the fund, and they raised the balance of the $50 million fund, based in Orange County, California.
Aaron Rodgers won the 2021 NFL MVP. Making him the 2nd player to win back-to-back MVPs since Peyton Manning and 2nd on all-time MVP list with 4 total. Trailing only Peyton Manning with 5.
On April 24, 2023, the Green Bay Packers agreed to trade Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets.