If This is Aaron Rodgers Final Season... Where Does He Rank All-Time Among QBs?

As the 2025 NFL season approaches, one of the biggest storylines will be how Aaron Rodgers performs in his first season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, which may also be his last. There is no doubt that Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play; he is also one of the most controversial figures not just in the NFL but in all of sports.

Some view Rodgers as perhaps the most talented thrower of the football the game has ever seen, while others may view him as an underachiever given how much talent he has. Despite his elite skill set and being on great Packers teams for his prime years, he does only have the one Super Bowl appearance, where, yes, he did win it, but it came so early on in his career in 2010. Throughout his best seasons, when he racked up four league MVP awards, he and the Packers lost four NFC conference title games, which makes me wonder if he had a career that never quite reached its full potential. Rodgers has also become quite unpopular off the field over recent years as he developed a reputation with some as a conspiracy theorist who says outlandish things as well as someone who doesn't exactly always tell the truth.

After signing with the Steelers in early June, Rodgers did state that this will likely be his final season in the NFL, and if that is the case, to me one question that is fair to begin to ask is where he should rank among the game's all-timers at the position.

That is why, while his talent should have him in the top tier of quarterbacks ever with my "big four" of Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Peyton Manning, and Joe Montana, Rodgers to me will forever be linked with that second tier of quarterbacks. In a group of legends like Dan Marino, John Elway, Drew Brees, and Brett Favre.

Some of those second-tier quarterbacks perhaps had more talent than even some of the quarterbacks in the top tier, but they did not have the team success some of those others had, and there were many more playoff failures where Rodgers could even lead that group despite his one Super Bowl victory.

Whichever way you slice it, Rodgers is no doubt one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and his legacy is pretty safe. He is no doubt a first-ballot Hall of Famer who was also one of the more divisive players to ever play in the NFL.

If 2025 is Rodgers's final chapter, he will be remembered as a legend and an all-time great who left a lot on the table in terms of team success.

The Steelers kick off their 2025 season in the Meadowlands as Rodgers returns to New York to face his former team, the New York Jets.