As the football world has publicly hyped up the records Tom Brady and Drew Brees have been shattering every year, Aaron Rodgers has quietly worked his way up the NFL record books himself. In Sunday's win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Rodgers became the fastest player to reach 400 touchdown passes, accomplishing the feat in just 193 games. Rodgers is just the seventh quarterback to reach the 400 touchdown mark, while also becoming the first quarterback to have 35+ pass touchdowns in five different seasons.
There's no doubt Rodgers is heading to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but where does the Green Bay Packers legend rank amongst the all-time great quarterbacks? Rodgers' resume often gets overlooked due to the one Super Bowl championship he won, even though the recently turned 37-year-old quarterback has plenty of years left to climb up the all-time passing list. Let's not forget he spent the first three years of his career as an understudy to Brett Favre, so he got off to a late start to chasing history.
In this week's "By The Numbers," we take a look at where Rodgers ranks among the all-time great quarterbacks -- and where he could end up if he continues this astounding pace. We'll also take a quick look at his 2020 season and his MVP candidacy.
Most Pass Touchdowns (first 193 games)
- Aaron Rodgers -- 400
- Drew Brees -- 377
- Peyton Manning -- 369
- Dan Marino -- 361
- Tom Brady -- 359
Most Pass Yards (first 193 games)
- Drew Brees -- 53,308
- Matt Ryan 52,432
- Peyton Manning -- 50,561
- Aaron Rodgers -- 50,341
- Dan Marino -- 50,121
Fewest Interceptions (first 193 games)
*Minimum 5,000 attempts
- Aaron Rodgers -- 88
- Alex Smith -- 106
- Donovan McNabb -- 117
- Tom Brady -- 134
- Joe Montana -- 139
Highest Passer Rating (first 193 games)
*Minimum 3,000 attempts
- Aaron Rodgers -- 103.4
- Russell Wilson -- 101.8
- Kirk Cousins -- 97.5
- Tony Romo -- 97.1
- Steve Young -- 96.8
The pace Rodgers has set for himself is incredible, especially since he's arguably having the best season of his career at 37 years old (he just turned 37 on December 2). Rodgers is averaging 260.8 passing yards a game for his career through 193 games. If he plays as long as Brady at that current pace (297 games), Rodgers would have 77,467 yards at that point in his career (Rodgers would have to play 6.5 more seasons to get to that point). Brady currently has 77,871 yards while Brees has 79,612 -- the most all-time. Rodgers would be third on the all-time list if he played up to 297 games (Brees has played just 284).
The touchdown record is the most impressive for Rodgers, who averages 2.07 touchdown passes a game. If Rodgers would get to 297 career games at that rate, he would have 615 touchdown passes -- which would be the all-time record (Brady currently holds it with 569). Another impressive accomplishment of Rodgers is he became the first player ever to have 400 touchdown passes and fewer than 100 interceptions, throwing an interception on just one of every 73.5 pass attempts. Rodgers has 400 touchdown passes to just 88 interceptions. Over the last three seasons, Rodgers has thrown 87 touchdowns to just 10 interceptions.
If Rodgers keeps up his spectacular pace, he will have the most pass touchdowns and third most passing yards all-time if he plays as many games as Brady. Going by Brady's pace, he'll have thrown 615 touchdowns to just 135 interceptions in 297 games -- assuming he decides to play another 6.5 years.
Rodgers may not rewrite all the records, but he's set to become the Dan Marino of his era (with a Super Bowl championship as the major divider). Winning a third MVP award will also help his case for one of the five greatest quarterbacks ever, as only five players have ever won the award that many times. Peyton Manning has the most MVP trophies with five, followed by Tom Brady, Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre, and Jim Brown with three. Rodgers is just one of nine players to win the award twice, so let's take a look at Rodgers candidacy to win his third MVP honor.
2020 NFL Leaders -- Completion Percentage
- Drew Brees -- 73.5
- Teddy Bridgewater -- 70.2
- Russell Wilson -- 70.0
- Josh Allen -- 69.9
- Aaron Rodgers -- 68.9
2020 NFL Leaders -- Touchdown Passes
- Aaron Rodgers -- 36
- Russell Wilson -- 32
- Patrick Mahomes -- 31
- Tom Brady -- 28
- Ben Roethlisberger -- 27
2020 NFL Leaders -- Yards Per Attempt
- Deshaun Watson -- 8.8
- Kirk Cousins -- 8.5
- Dak Prescott -- 8.4
- Aaron Rodgers -- 8.2
- Patrick Mahomes -- 8.2
2020 NFL Leaders -- Quarterback Rating
- Aaron Rodgers -- 118.5
- Patrick Mahomes -- 113.8
- Deshaun Watson -- 110.0
- Drew Brees -- 110.0
- Russell Wilson -- 107.6
Rodgers is on pace for a season never before seen in NFL history, as he would become the first player to reach 4,500 passing yards and 48 passing touchdowns with a 68% completion percentage and a 118.0 rating. The completion percentage and touchdown passes would both be career highs. Rodgers has completed 71.4% of his passes for 2,021 yards, 23 touchdowns to just two interceptions and a 124.9 passer rating over his last seven games.
Rodgers ranks in the top six in completion percentage, passing yards, passing touchdowns, touchdown percentage, interception percentage, yards per attempt, and passer rating -- the only quarterback in the league that can own that title. Rodgers has 80.3% of his passes on target, which is sixth in the league -- with his pass catchers dropping 6.8% of his passes (second in the NFL). The Packers offensive line has given Rodgers time as the quarterback is only pressured on 13.8% of dropbacks (third fewest in the NFL) despite having just 2.4 seconds of pocket time to throw the ball (22nd amongst NFL quarterbacks).
If the MVP award doesn't go to Patrick Mahomes -- who is having a history-making season himself -- Rodgers deserves the honor once again. Getting Green Bay to the best record in the NFC may be enough to sway the votes in Rodgers' direction, especially if he continues at this torrid pace.
