Rodgers in the mix for a third MVP
GREEN BAY – There was one throw this past off season as Aaron Rodgers tried to rediscover himself, an otherwise forgettable training camp rep that lingers in the quarterback’s mind four months later, because it’s when everything clicked.
Even by a practice throw’s standard, it was less than remarkable on the surface. Just a 20-yard throw to Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Not a bomb, but a read-stop on the left side. But Rodgers did something before the throw, maybe for the first time in a long time. He delivered it in rhythm. “That, to me, gave me a lot of confidence,” Rodgers said, “that the things that I was thinking about and working
on and visualizing could come to fruition. You never know once live bullets start going, how you’re going to play, but I feel like as far as training camp goes, that was an important day for me. A lot of things changed for me as far as my balance and rhythm and timing going forward.”
It has been 13 games now, and the live throws have been just fine, too. After playing at merely a Pro Bowl level the past couple seasons — solid for almost anyone else, unacceptable for 12 — Rodgers has hit another level in his age-37 season. He’s practically in a dead heat with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for the league’s Most Valuable Player award.
Rodgers would be the sixth player in NFL history to earn three MVP awards, joining Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Johnny Unitas and Jim Brown in the sport’s most exclusive club.
“There’s not many guys who have won three,” Rodgers said. “So that would definitely mean a lot.”
The eventual winner of Rodgers vs. Mahomes might depend on perspective. Mahomes, already with one regular-season MVP award and one Super Bowl MVP, is the NFL’s future. He might already be the league’s best player, even at just 25 years old. This season, he has led the Chiefs to a 12-1 record as they defend their Super Bowl LIV title. Mahomes leads the league with 4,208 passing yards, but that’s where his statistical advantage over Rodgers stops.
It’s Rodgers who leads the NFL with 39 touchdown passes and a 119.7 passer rating. His rating is the third highest in NFL history, remarkably close to Rodgers’ single-season record 122.5 from the 2011 season. Because Mahomes threw three interceptions in last week’s game against the Dolphins, increasing his total this season to five, Rodgers (four) has also thrown fewer picks.
Those are just the numbers. Rodgers, stating his case during his weekly Zoom call Wednesday, used letters to state his case, putting special emphasis on the V.
“I think it says ‘most valuable player,’” Rodgers said. “A lot of times, that player is also the best player. But I think it should live up to what it stands for as an acronym. … So it’s that person who is most valuable to their team, I think. I feel like that’s why I should be in the competition most years, and this year especially.”
Rodgers smiled when asked if the Packers drafting Jordan Love this spring, theoretically setting an expiration clock on his tenure with the team, is why he’s had a resurgence. “I don’t need any extra motivation,” he said. Instead, Rodgers pointed to improvements he’s referenced through the season. Another year in coach Matt LaFleur’s scheme has led to more familiarity, which breeds comfort. Stronger legs have given him a sturdier platform, allowing for better balance, rhythm and timing.
“There have been so many more ontime throws,” Rodgers said.
But when it comes to extended plays, less has also been more. An over-reliance on extended plays in recent seasons had stressed the Packers’ offense. As the Packers’ passing game has gotten more on schedule, it has also improved when plays break down.
Receiver Davante Adams pointed to the Packers’ second play in Sunday’s game against the Lions. Rodgers took a shotgun snap and found no receiver open at the bottom of his drop. He pump faked a dump-off throw to running back Aaron Jones in the right flat, flushed the pocket to that side, keeping his eyes downfield as he approached the line of scrimmage.
Eventually, he found receiver Equanimeous St. Brown open 15 yards downfield, and threaded a strike between two Lions defenders. The play took almost exactly five seconds from snap to throw. It was the type of extended play that was almost extinct in 2019.
Last season, Rodgers completed only 11 of his 39 passes thrown more than five seconds after the snap, good for 175 yards, one touchdown and a 54.33 passer rating. He was sacked 11 times on pass plays that took longer than five seconds, not including an intentional grounding. He has been sacked only 14 times this season.
“Last year,” Adams said, “maybe that (completion to St. Brown) doesn’t happen, and the ball gets thrown away, and the play isn’t any good.”
Rodgers has been close to a third MVP before. In 2016, Rodgers led the NFL with 40 touchdown passes for the only time in his career, but the award went to Atlanta’s Matt Ryan. Rodgers’ second MVP in 2014 might have been his third, if in 2012 Adrian Peterson hadn’t gone off for 199 yards in the Minnesota Vikings’ finale against the Packers, giving Peterson’s 2,097 rushing yards on the season and the MVP.
This year, Rodgers might finally break into that exclusive club.
“It’s nice,” he said, “to be back in the conversation.”