Just days after the popular story out there was that he was going to retire this week, Aaron Rodgers arrived at camp today. He’s apparently back in the fold, with a weird agreement that seems to involve the quarterback possibly being able to choose his team in 2022 and have one of his buddies with him in 2021. If so, we can focus on his fantasy potential this year, which is considerable.
In the middle of last decade Rodgers had a couple of years where he was hurt half the season, and another lousy year that resulted in Mike McCarthy being fired with a month left. Other than that, he's been pretty much fantasy gold.
Since moving into the starting lineup in 2008, Rodgers has more often than not been one of the league's best quarterbacks, both fantasy and otherwise. The table below shows the top 40 fantasy seasons by a quarterback (4-point TD passes, 1 point for every 20 passing or 10 rushing yards) since Rodgers moved into the starting lineup. Rodgers cracks that list six times, including last year. I cropped it at 40 to make it more manageable, but Rodgers also shows up four other times in the top 80, so 10 times in 13 seasons as a starter. Pretty consistently excellent.
TOP 40 QUARTERBACK FANTASY SEASONS, 2008-2020 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | Cmp | Att | Pass | TD | Run | TD | PPR |
2013 | Peyton Manning | 450 | 659 | 5477 | 55 | -31 | 1 | 498.8 |
2018 | Patrick Mahomes | 383 | 580 | 5097 | 50 | 272 | 2 | 496.1 |
2011 | Drew Brees | 468 | 657 | 5476 | 46 | 86 | 1 | 478.4 |
2020 | Josh Allen | 396 | 572 | 4544 | 37 | 421 | 8 | 473.5 |
2019 | Lamar Jackson | 265 | 401 | 3127 | 36 | 1206 | 7 | 463.0 |
2011 | Aaron Rodgers | 343 | 502 | 4643 | 45 | 257 | 3 | 455.9 |
2015 | Cam Newton | 296 | 495 | 3837 | 35 | 636 | 10 | 455.5 |
2020 | Kyler Murray | 375 | 558 | 3971 | 26 | 819 | 11 | 450.5 |
2011 | Cam Newton | 310 | 517 | 4051 | 21 | 706 | 14 | 448.9 |
2011 | Tom Brady | 401 | 611 | 5235 | 39 | 109 | 3 | 446.7 |
2016 | Aaron Rodgers | 401 | 610 | 4428 | 40 | 369 | 4 | 446.3 |
2014 | Andrew Luck | 380 | 616 | 4761 | 40 | 273 | 3 | 443.4 |
2020 | Aaron Rodgers | 372 | 526 | 4299 | 48 | 149 | 3 | 440.3 |
2020 | Patrick Mahomes | 390 | 588 | 4740 | 38 | 308 | 2 | 437.8 |
2020 | Deshaun Watson | 382 | 544 | 4823 | 33 | 444 | 3 | 437.6 |
2012 | Drew Brees | 422 | 670 | 5177 | 43 | 5 | 1 | 437.4 |
2013 | Drew Brees | 446 | 650 | 5162 | 39 | 52 | 3 | 437.3 |
2020 | Russell Wilson | 384 | 558 | 4212 | 40 | 513 | 2 | 435.9 |
2018 | Ben Roethlisberger | 452 | 675 | 5129 | 34 | 98 | 3 | 429.2 |
2018 | Matt Ryan | 422 | 608 | 4924 | 35 | 125 | 3 | 428.2 |
2011 | Matthew Stafford | 421 | 663 | 5038 | 41 | 78 | 0 | 427.7 |
2019 | Jameis Winston | 380 | 626 | 5109 | 33 | 250 | 1 | 426.5 |
2016 | Drew Brees | 471 | 673 | 5208 | 37 | 20 | 2 | 422.4 |
2017 | Russell Wilson | 339 | 553 | 3983 | 34 | 586 | 3 | 415.8 |
2016 | Matt Ryan | 373 | 534 | 4944 | 38 | 117 | 0 | 414.9 |
2019 | Dak Prescott | 388 | 596 | 4902 | 30 | 277 | 3 | 412.8 |
2014 | Aaron Rodgers | 341 | 520 | 4381 | 38 | 269 | 2 | 412.0 |
2012 | Aaron Rodgers | 371 | 552 | 4295 | 39 | 259 | 2 | 411.6 |
2015 | Tom Brady | 402 | 624 | 4770 | 36 | 53 | 3 | 410.4 |
2020 | Tom Brady | 401 | 610 | 4633 | 40 | 6 | 3 | 410.3 |
2009 | Aaron Rodgers | 350 | 541 | 4434 | 30 | 316 | 5 | 409.3 |
2015 | Blake Bortles | 355 | 606 | 4428 | 35 | 310 | 2 | 406.4 |
2018 | Andrew Luck | 430 | 639 | 4593 | 39 | 148 | 0 | 405.9 |
2012 | Tom Brady | 401 | 637 | 4827 | 34 | 32 | 4 | 404.6 |
2020 | Ryan Tannehill | 315 | 481 | 3819 | 33 | 266 | 7 | 398.6 |
2015 | Russell Wilson | 329 | 483 | 4024 | 34 | 553 | 1 | 398.5 |
2020 | Justin Herbert | 396 | 595 | 4336 | 31 | 234 | 5 | 398.2 |
2018 | Deshaun Watson | 345 | 505 | 4165 | 26 | 551 | 5 | 397.4 |
2018 | Jared Goff | 364 | 561 | 4688 | 32 | 108 | 2 | 397.2 |
2014 | Peyton Manning | 395 | 597 | 4727 | 39 | -24 | 0 | 394.0 |
Past performance is no guarantee of future results, but by all accounts Rodgers has no problem with Matt LaFleur and the coaching staff -- his problem is with the front office. So although we'll see Jordan Love in any preseason games, Rodgers should be committed and playing at a high level again this year, hoping to end his Green Bay career with his 2nd Super Bowl. Will probably make some fantasy teams pretty happy along the way, as well.
--Andy Richardson