Tag: aaron rodgers packers

The best NFL quarterbacks for every type of throw

Quarterbacks are challenged to excel in all kinds of situations, and here are the best NFL QBs for every type of throw for the 2020 season.

As the NFL learns to embrace advanced metrics, there are stories to tell from those numbers, especially when you match them with tape. One of the things these drill-down stats give you is an interesting set of names when it comes to the best quarterbacks for different types of throws, in different schemes, against different defensive ideas and with certain pre-snap and post-snap advantages and disadvantages.

When I first put together a list of the best quarterbacks for every type of throw last year using the Sports Info Solutions database, there were a number of different quarterbacks who showed up in a positive sense — everyone from Drew Brees and Russell Wilson to Ryan Tannehill (who hit the list more than any other quarterback, and we should stop assuming that Tannehill isn’t up to the Julio Jones addition).

In the sequel to that exercise for the 2020 season, one quarterback stood out above all: Aaron Charles Rodgers. The reigning NFL MVP, and a guy who has made it very clear that he no longer wants to be a part of the Green Bay Packers, had an insanely great season that looks even better when you go beyond the traditional numbers.

There are other quarterbacks on this list, but Rodgers proved as few other quarterbacks can in any one season that no matter what he did, or what defenses did against him, he was going to blow up those defenses in every way possible. If the Packers can’t work this out, someone’s going to get an all-timer at the top of his game. It should also be said that, based on a lot of these numbers, Rodgers may not do quite as well in any system that isn’t authored by Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur.

That marriage counseling aside, here are the best quarterbacks for every type of throw for the 2020 season.

Report: Aaron Rodgers has had it with the Green Bay Packers

The relationship between Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers could be coming to an unmerciful end.

This story has been holding weight for a while, but as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Thursday afternoon, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has expressed a degree of disgruntlement with his team that could preclude his return to the team. Like… ever.

There are two issues. The first issue is that the Packers traded up in the 2020 draft to select Utah State quarterback Jordan Love with the 26th overall pick, as opposed to giving Rodgers the kinds of weapons he wanted, either in the draft or in free agency.

“I was watching the draft feed with A.J. Hawk and Pat McAfee, and my first reaction was surprise,” Rodgers said of the pick last May. “I wasn’t thrilled by the pick. obviously, but the organization is thinking about the present and the future, obviously. He is such a talent that they wanted to move up and get him.

“You can only control what you can control. It’s a mantra for any great athlete. It’s something that’s out of my control. What I can control is how I play, and to make that decision a hard one.”

Rodgers did his best to make the decision a hard one by winning his third NFL MVP award in 2020, taking the Packers to the NFC Championship game.

“Aaron is our guy,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said Monday during his pre-draft press conference. “He is going to be our quarterback for the foreseeable future.”

Well, maybe not. There’s also the news that the 49ers, who currently hold the third overall pick, called the Packers and offered a trade for Rodgers, but were turned down. Apparently, they were not the only team to do so.

What does that mean in the longer term? If Rodgers really is done with the Packers, he’s still got three years left on the four-year, $134 million contract extension he signed in 2018. The contract technically runs through 2023, when Rodgers will be 40 years old, and the cap hit for Rodgers in 2021 is $38,356 pre-June 1, and $21,152 million post-June 1.

The NFL changed when Tom Brady called his shot, moving from Foxboro to Tampa and winning another Super Bowl in the process. Quarterbacks from Russell Wilson on down are less shy about expressing their displeasure with their teams’ processes, and this is the highest-profile example to date.