The Packers’ history is probably the richest and certainly the longest, given the Green Bay team predates the NFL’s
debut season in 1920.
This truth made Aaron Rodgers’ statement on The Pat McAfee Show on March 15 all the more startling, as he
claimed to be the greatest player to ever wear a Packers uniform.
Naturally, this raised the question of whether Rodgers truly tops that list. It’s an illustrious one, filled with
luminaries who helped win 13 championships, including four Super Bowls.
And for many recent generations, the debate begins with the pivotal question: Rodgers or Brett Favre? Ask those
around them—as we did—and you won’t get a clear answer.
Perhaps this is the football equivalent of asking a Wisconsinite to pick between cheese curds and beer. Favre was
released by the Jets in 2008, and he appears to be heading in the same direction as Rodgers.
Former Packers vice president Andrew Brandt, who joined the club in 1999 and also writes a football business
column for The MMQB, sees the circumstances as startlingly similar.
“It’s eerie,” Brandt admits. “The déjà vu is overwhelming.” We picked this first-round quarterback eighteen years
ago, and everyone loathed us for doing so. Brett was furious, Brett’s agent was upset, the fans were upset, the media
was upset, and Aaron couldn’t have been happier, coming to a frigid location where he would never play.”