Aaron Rodgers Biography: The Green Bay Packers

Video: Aaron Rodgers, Most Valuable Player.

Football was an early love for Aaron, who at age of 2 was able to sit silently and watch an entire NFL game. At the age of 5, he could pick out different football formations on the television screen and throw a football through a hanging tire.

Also a talented baseball player, Rodgers starred for his Raleigh Hills Little League team when the family lived in Beaverton, Oregon, in the mid-1990s. After returning to California, Rodgers set a variety of school passing records as quarterback for Pleasant Valley High School. However, coming from a small town like Chico hurt his college prospects. Unable to land a Division I scholarship, he enrolled at Butte College, a junior college in nearby Oroville, California, in 2002.

College Career

During his one year at Butte, Rodgers led the school to a 10-1 record and a No. 2 national ranking. He was also named his conference’s MVP. His success with the program caught the eye of scouts at the University of California at Berkeley, and the following season, Rodgers enrolled at the college and became the team’s starter.

During his two years at Berkeley, Rodgers led a vaunted offense that propelled him to break a number of school records and helped make him a Heisman finalist in 2004. Still, even while garnering praise for his passing attack, Rodgers—who bypassed his final year at Berkley to enter the 2005 NFL draft and was one of college football’s top prospects—saw his fortunes sink on draft night. Despite being considered a top 10—maybe even top five—pick, he lasted until the 24th selection of the first round, when the Green Bay Packers selected him.

NFL Career

For Rodgers, coming to Green Bay meant sitting and watching the team’s starting quarterback, Brett Favre, an ironman of a football player who’d started every game for the Packers since 1992.

Finally, in 2008, after Green Bay elected not to re-sign the then 38-year-old Favre, Rodgers got his chance to quarterback Green Bay as a starter. Rodgers did not waver, manning QB duties for all 16 regular season games while throwing for 4,038 yards and 28 touchdowns.

Rodgers endeared himself to Green Bay fans and proved he was one of the game’s elite quarterbacks when he steered the Packers to victory in Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011. The team took the title for the 2010 season. On the big stage, Rodgers earned MVP honors, completing 24 of 39 passes for 304 yards and notching three touchdowns.

Rodgers maintained his spot among football’s top performers in successive seasons. When he notched his 100th regular-season start in December 2014, he ranked first in NFL history in career touchdown passes, yards and passer rating among all quarterbacks at that milestone point of their careers.

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