Aaron Rodgers-Brett Favre Debate More Complicated Than It Might Seem

To say the Green Bay Packers have had an incredible history at the quarterback position might be an understatement.

Bart Starr was one of the NFL’s first great quarterbacks. Brett Favre ascended to the top of the mountain, winning three NFL MVP awards and a Super Bowl. Today, Aaron Rodgers is arguably the best quarterback in the world. Even backup quarterbacks over the years like Mark Brunell and Matt Hasselbeck went on to find success elsewhere in the NFL.

With Favre back in Green Bay over the weekend to be inducted into the team Hall of Fame and have his number retired, it was natural for the conversation to shift to which quarterback — Favre or Rodgers — was better over the course of his career. Granted, Rodgers’ career is far from over, but given how he’s played since taking over, it’s a legitimate debate.

Former Packers linebacker Brady Poppinga played with both quarterbacks during his time in Green Bay. He wrote on FootballByFootball.com that picking a side in the Favre-Rodgers debate isn’t as simple as it seems.

“Even though Rodgers perhaps is playing at a level better than any quarterback in NFL history,” Poppinga writes, “is it fair to say that he is better than his mentor … a quarterback legendary in his own right who taught Rodgers what it took to be great? Favre didn’t sit behind an all-time great the first three years of his career. He also didn’t play the majority of his career in the quarterback-driven NFL of today where offenses have rules advantages.”