During Aaron Rodgers’ rookie season with the Green Bay Packers, his relationship with teammate Brett Favre needed plenty of defrosting.
Rodgers, 41, was drafted 24th overall by the Packers in the 2005 NFL Draft, a surprising tumble for a player who was widely expected to be drafted inside the top 5. While the Packers front office was thrilled to get him, the same sentiment wasn’t necessarily shared by Favre, 55, who was preparing to enter his 14th season as the Packers starting quarterback.
“He wasn’t super juiced on the idea of them drafting a quarterback in the first round,” Rodgers said in Netflix’s Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, which premiered on Tuesday, December 17, “so the first year was a little icy, shall we say?”
During an August 2005 interview with reporters, Favre famously said, “My contract doesn’t say I have to get Aaron Rodgers ready to play.”
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“It was a big learning curve, for sure,” Rodgers reflected. “Brett was close with the back-up [quarterback Craig Nall]. They were hunting bodies or whatever. So I was kind of the odd man out for a lot of that.”
Two decades later, Rodgers — who was fresh off two stellar seasons at the University of California-Berkeley at the time — had a bit more clarity about how the uncomfortable dynamic played out.
“I’m a California kid who’s dealing with a major ego death of not being the starter anymore,” Rodgers said in the docuseries. “I can understand why I wasn’t first choice to hang out with. But it was definitely a shock in a lot of ways.”
Rodgers added, “A lot of change, a lot to navigate. I’m the outsider in the QB room. I’m the heir apparent to a living legend who wants to keep playing. We’re a terrible football team. A lot of turmoil.”
The Packers finished 4-12 during Rodgers’ rookie season in 2005, failing to make the playoffs for the first time since 2000. Rodgers only saw the field in three of the team’s games.
“It definitely humanized a lot of things,” Rodgers said of watching Favre’s lackluster performance. “Because I think we put our heroes on a pedestal, naturally. And you get to see them at some low points. Being on a really bad team and struggling. He had 29 interceptions that year. That’s a lot of turnovers.”
In the midst of a complicated relationship with Favre, Rodgers dedicated himself to being a sponge around the team’s practice facility.
“God gave us two eyes, two ears and one mouth for a reason: It’s to listen twice as much as you talk,” Rodgers said. “So I tried to watch and learn from Brett as much as possible to try and figure out this whole thing, how to navigate it. To try and be as supportive as possible, to try and bring something of relevance each week to the game plan.”
Eventually, Favre started to acknowledge Rodgers, though the rookie quarterback admittedly had to adjust his expectations for their friendship.
“I think he started to respect me a little bit,” Rodgers remembered. “There was a friendship that started at that point. But never really a mentorship, I would say. I learned it was better for all of us if we bulls—ed about life and hunting and different things. But deep, philosophical quarterback conversations just didn’t really happen.”
Favre announced his retirement in March 2008, but then reverted course in July and revealed his intentions to return to the Packers. However, after a meeting with head coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson, Favre and the organization agreed to officially part ways.
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In the aftermath, Rodgers recalled how he received a text message telling him to meet McCarthy, 61, in the parking lot.
“I walk out to the truck, McCarthy’s out there,” he said. “I jump in. He basically says, ‘You’re the guy. Brett’s going home. We said we’ll trade him, but it’s your show.’ I was like, ‘Sweet.’”
Rodgers would take over the starting quarterback job in Green Bay in the fall of 2008 and hold the position for the next 15 seasons.
All three episodes of Aaron Rodgers: Enigma are available to stream now on Netflix.
