What do we make of Aaron Rodgers? Does he belong in the top tier of quarterbacks? Or has his time passed (at least for now)?
He hasn’t been nearly as effective in recent years. He threw only 25 touchdowns last year, ranking in the bottom 10 in completion percentage.
I am concerned about pass protection. He takes a lot of sacks – over 3 per game the last two years. Part of that can be attributed to the offensive line, but he also has a tendency to hold the ball trying to buy time waiting for plays to develop. With the hits, he doesn’t look as durable as much of the other top quarterbacks. He missed half of the 2013 and 2017 seasons with broken collarbones, and he was affected by a knee injury last year (getting hurt in the opener against Chicago).
I’m not crazy about the pass catcher. They’ve got Davante Adams, and that’s about it. Maybe one of their younger guys can step up – Geronimo Allison, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Equanimeous St. Brown. That’s possible. But it needs to happen, and none of those guys were coveted draft picks coming in. They signed Jimmy Graham a year ago, but he’s not a difference-making tight end anymore. When you look at the receiving groups on some of the other teams – Falcons, Rams, Texans, Browns, Colts – the Packers come up short.
Over the past four years, Rodgers has averaged 7.1 yards per attempt. He averaged 8.5 in his previous four seasons.
Similarly, Rodgers has averaged 261 passing yards as a starter over the last four years, with 112 touchdowns and 23 interceptions in those 55 games – just over 2 TDs per week. If you look at the previous four years, I see 22 more yards per game, and 139 touchdowns versus 25 interceptions (in 56 games). That’s almost a half of a touchdown pass per game.
| AARON RODGERS: last eight seasons | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | G | Pct | Yards | YPA | TD | Int | Rating |
| 2011 | 15 | 68.3% | 4,643 | 9.2 | 45 | 6 | 122.5 |
| 2012 | 16 | 67.2% | 4,295 | 7.8 | 39 | 8 | 108.0 |
| 2013 | 9 | 66.6% | 2,536 | 8.7 | 17 | 6 | 104.9 |
| 2014 | 16 | 65.6% | 4,381 | 8.4 | 38 | 5 | 112.2 |
| 2015 | 16 | 60.7% | 3,821 | 6.7 | 31 | 8 | 92.7 |
| 2016 | 16 | 65.7% | 4,428 | 7.3 | 40 | 7 | 104.2 |
| 2017 | 7 | 64.7% | 1,675 | 7.0 | 16 | 6 | 97.2 |
| 2018 | 16 | 62.3% | 4,442 | 7.4 | 25 | 2 | 97.6 |
On the plus side with Rodgers, if we simply set aside last year, where he was gimping around on a bad knee, he’s been good enough recently. In the 2016 season, he put up 44 touchdowns (including 4 runs), making him the best quarterback. And if we set aside the game he left very early with the collarbone injury in 2017, he was in the mix to be the top guy, with 16 touchdowns in his six full games.
They’ve got Matt LaFleur coming in to run the thing, but I’m not sure he’s a savior. He couldn’t do much with Marcus Mariota in Tennessee last year.
—Ian Allan