Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is in love with football again, and thinking about the future.
And the guy he replaced sees no reason to think Rodgers can’t keep playing at this level for a long time to come.
Via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com, Hall of Famer Brett Favre said during a speech at the Lee Remmel Banquet that he thought Rodgers also had more titles in him than the one he’s managed so far, though it’s far from his fault they haven’t had more.
“Obviously, Aaron has carried the team for a long time; that’s not going to change,” Favre said. “That in itself is not enough — at least it hasn’t been, and it’s been pretty good. As good as he is, I would’ve thought they would’ve won more than one by now. But I don’t know if he can do anything else other than what he’s done up to this point. It always seems like one piece of the puzzle is missing.
“You don’t know what that is until you get it, like a Reggie White. You go, ‘Oh, that’s what we needed.’ It remains to be seen what that is, whether it’s a draft pick, a free agent, letting someone go, a coaching change — I don’t know.”
And while Rodgers has mused about playing until he’s 40, Favre recalled playing until he was 41 and thinks Rodgers is able to go past that.
“Why stop at 40?” Favre said. “He moves around as well as anyone in the game right now. That’s big. The less you’re hit — Tom Brady’s a different player, but they protect him well enough. He’s not going to scramble for much, but I see no decline in Tom other than he’s getting older, but he doesn’t look like that.
“And I think Aaron — what is Aaron, 33? I would think that barring any injury — and he knows how to protect himself — six or seven years from now is a long time to think that far down the road, but there’s no reason to think he couldn’t play and play at a high level until — I’m not going to say 43, 44, it’s up to the individual — and I don’t see any decline in his game unless he doesn’t want to play anymore.”
Rodgers has also made it clear he wants to stay with the Packers, which would keep him from the unseemly Jets-Vikings years that Favre put every through.