How many times in your life have you seen a really incredible sporting comeback? I’m talking REALLY incredible. I’m talking about Michael Jordan quitting basketball, playing his trade in professional baseball, and then returning to the NBA to win another three rings, an MVP award, and three Finals MVPs. It’s the kind of comeback where the commentator says something like “Wow, you just couldn’t write it!’
Not many, right?
Michael Jordan is one. Tiger Woods is another, missing two years to back injuries and personal problems before winning the Masters in 2019, aged 43. Michael Phelps came out of retirement to win five gold medals at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. George Foreman decided to retire from boxing in 1977. After a decade outside of the ring, he decided to return, despite being nearly 40 years old. He became the heavyweight world champion. Then of course, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, arguably the two best quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL, had incredible comebacks from what are often career-shattering injuries.
What do all of these athletes have in common? I’d say that all of these stars are the GOATs (or extremely close) in their sports. Comebacks, fighting spirit, and perseverance are key attributes of legendary sports figures. Now, we have a chance to see another incredible sporting story.
Aaron Rodgers is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL. Drafted in 2005 to the Green Bay Packers, he spent his first two years as back-up to Brett Favre. The master and the apprentice. For our non-NFL readers, this is like when a young Lionel Messi broke into the Barcelona first team and he had Ronaldinho to learn from. It was always going to work out after that.
Rodgers replaced the retiring Favre in 2008 and quickly became unstoppable. His next 14 years in Wisconsin were nothing short of extraordinary.
In the 2010 season, he led the Packers to victory in Super Bowl XLV, where he was named Super Bowl MVP. He was also recognized as the Associated Press Athlete of the Year in 2011 and claimed four NFL MVP awards, in 2011, 2014, 2020, and 2021. Rodgers became one of only five players to win back-to-back NFL MVP honors, joining legends like Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Joe Montana, and Jim Brown.
Rodgers’ dominance was evident in his consistency and efficiency. He led the NFL in touchdown-to-interception ratio six times, lowest passing interception percentage six times, passer rating four times, and touchdown passing percentage four times. He also topped the league in total touchdowns three times, touchdown passes twice, and led in yards per attempt and completion percentage in 2011 and 2020, respectively.
As of now, Rodgers holds the highest career passer rating in NFL history, becoming the first quarterback to have a career passer rating over 100. Throughout the 2010s, he led the league in touchdown-to-interception ratio, passer rating, and the lowest interception percentage. In postseason play, Rodgers ranks second in touchdown passes and touchdown-to-interception ratio, fourth in passing yards, and fifth in passer rating. Additionally, he holds the NFL’s best all-time touchdown-to-interception ratio (4.52), the lowest career interception percentage (1.4%), and the highest single-season passer rating of 122.5.
So he’s not half-bad. You’d think any team would be desperate to keep their hands on him, right? Wrong.
In 2020, the Green Bay Packers traded up four picks to draft quarterback Jordan Love from Utah State, despite their best-ever player having four years remaining on his contract. That week, Rodgers canceled his guest appearance on the Pat McAfee show. He told The Athletic, “That’s when I went and poured myself a little glass of Añejo and waited for somebody to call me”.
The seeds had been sown for the legendary quarterback to leave. He needed a new challenge. Resentment was growing in America’s Dairyland and for Rodgers, New York seemed more like the land of milk and honey. Nothing happened immediately. Rodgers stayed put for two more seasons and played at a high level, but there was a feeling on both sides that a fantastic stint at the Packers was coming to an end.
As a man with an A-List contacts book which ranges from Harry Styles to Nick Jonas, A-Rod was always going to feel much more comfortable in somewhere such as the Concrete Jungle. So when the New York Jets made the play for him in April of 2023, he was all ears. He was increasingly aggravated at the lack of input he had on roster decisions. It was time for a move.
When the signing was announced, sports channels went into overdrive. It was as if the Messiah had arrived himself in Florham Park.
“I felt like this is where I was supposed to be. I really try and listen to the signs and synchronicities that the universe puts in our face every day, and this was basically the direction that everything was pointing.”
Aaron Rodgers
His arrival was scrutinized, discussed, and disputed relentlessly for the entire summer. Every training camp snap, pre-season play, character reference, and even unsubstantiated rumor was chewed over for hours. When the schedule was released, the announcement of the Buffalo Bills coming to MetLife on the opening weekend had the sports world in a trance. It was really happening.
Finally, it was go time. Excitement in the Big Apple had reached a fever pitch. The TV executives loved it and put the Jets on primetime Monday Night Football against the Bills. Rodgers made a Superman-style entrance minutes before kickoff as he sprinted out onto the field, American flag in arm, on the 22nd anniversary of 9/11. It was a powerful statement from a powerful quarterback.
CHILLS.
— ESPN (@espn) September 12, 2023
Aaron Rodgers ran out with the flag ahead of Bills-Jets 🇺🇸 #MNF pic.twitter.com/y4JjWHd4D1
But then disaster struck. The New York Jets Jetsed again, in the most Jetsy fashion possible. Just four snaps through the game, before a single pass has been made, Leonard Floyd sacks Rodgers. He doesn’t get up. He’s carted off the field and replaced by Zach Wilson and although, in very non-Jets style, they closed out the game, fans were looking at the bigger picture. Their star quarterback, along with their hopes and dreams, had suffered a serious beating. It was soon revealed that he’d be out for the season. Disastrous.
Rodgers tried his best to beat conventional science and return from his ACL injury in record-breaking, Iron Man time. But it didn’t happen. The Jets finished 7-10 and continued their preposterously long playoff absence. Rodgers’ arrival was criticized in the media.
Fast forward to the Jets’ training camp. They hosted a mandatory minicamp in June to get everyone up to speed and integrate their new signings, most importantly Rodgers’ new offensive line. Mandatory doesn’t seem to apply to Rodgers though and he went on holiday to Egypt, seemingly not knowing how the refund system worked on AirBnB or not wanting to take the tens of thousands of dollars hit in spite of his $75m Jets contract.
When he returned, he did start to form a sharp partnership with wide receiver Garrett Wilson and his other teammates as well. There didn’t seem to be any resentment. Something positive was blooming and although Rodgers didn’t feature, the Jets won all of their pre-season games.
Returning to the title of this article, I want to see Rodgers succeed because it would be the most incredible redemption arc and a sweet ending to a brilliant career. How often do we get to see our legends end on a high? How often do comeback stories like this happen? It’s not often at all, but when it does happen, it’s sweet.
It’s why we follow sports in the first place. To feel something supernatural, to watch superhumans, and to be superstitious. Although it may just look like twenty-two charged-up, larger-than-most men, it’s far more than that. It’s a cathartic experience. When he steps up to take that first snap on Monday Night against the San Francisco 49ers, the true sports fan in your heart will feel some serious happiness.
It has been 543 days since Aaron Rodgers said “I’ve made it clear that my intention was to play and my intention was to play for the New York Jets,”
— NYJ MIKE (@NyjMike) September 8, 2024
Now we are 1 day away from getting to really see it 🔥 pic.twitter.com/inFlerqJ0T
Among all of Aaron Rodgers’ slightly left-of-field opinions, the craziest is that he’s publically questioned whether the NFL is scripted. Let’s just imagine it was for a moment. An outspoken, late American Football bloomer gets zero D1 offers, gets humiliated on Draft Day when his hometown team snubs him, spends three years as a Brett Favre disciple, breaks through and demolishes (or sets) countless quarterback records and wins four MVPs and a Super Bowl.
Aged 39, he moves to the New York Jets, the team with the longest playoff absence in ALL American sports who think that their time has finally come. Instead, he ruptures his ACL after just four snaps. The whole NFL community writes him off. People want to see him fail. But the scriptwriters wouldn’t have that, and neither would Aaron Rodgers. He’s a winner. He may be 40, but he’s one of the all-time greats. Father Time gets everyone eventually, but he’ll have to wait just a little bit longer…
By Nicky Helfgott / @NickyHelfgott1 on X (Twitter)
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Awesome