Brett Favre was 35 when the Packers drafted 21-year-old Aaron Rodgers with a first-round draft choice in 2005.
It was not the best of times for either quarterback, and they were not the best of friends. Favre once famously said, “My contract doesn’t say I have to get Aaron Rodgers ready to play. Now hopefully he watches me and gets something from that.” Rodgers may or may not have called Favre “Grandpa” in their initial meeting.
Now, the 36-year-old Rodgers has 21-year-old Jordan Love behind him after the Packers used a first-round selection on the Utah State quarterback.
Rodgers understands the comparisons everyone is making, but he doesn’t plan on having a problem with his young, highly drafted backup.
“Yeah, that’s a good question,” Rodgers said on a conference call with beat reporters. “I think just based on the age in which I was and Brett was when I was drafted and comparatively to me and Jordan. There are similarities to that. I think there are a lot of things that aren’t similar when you look at the two situations as far as Brett’s mindset during the ’03 and ’04 seasons, and obviously my statements about a strong desire, a real desire to play into my 40s and the way I feel about the game and my body and my love of the sport. But I do see some similarities, and I understand why they’re drawn in that respect.
“I learned a lot over those years working with Brett, things I can bring to the relationship with Jordan and just understand the mindset. I went through it as a young 21-, 22-, 23-year old playing with my idol as a teammate. I’ll definitely take those lessons with me. Like I said before, I’ve always had great relationships with my backups, and I always love helping those guys out in any way. The more questions they have, the more answers I have. I’ve really truly embraced those relationships, and it’ll be the same with Jordan.”
Rodgers sat behind Favre for three seasons before Favre briefly retired. When Favre decided to return, the Packers traded him to the Jets.
Rodgers and Favre mended their relationship in 2013 when they shook hands onstage during NFL Honors. In 2016, Rodgers attended Favre’s Pro Football Hall of Fame induction.
Two year after that, following Rodgers’ visit to Favre’s Mississippi home, Favre revealed that Rodgers was making a documentary.
Rodgers was asked Friday about his relationship with Favre and the documentary.
“I don’t really have any updates at this point on that,” Rodgers said of the documentary. “I can say there was some really good stuff that we got to talk about during that time. That was big for our relationship I know. It’s progressed really since the handshake onstage at the Honors to where now him and I are very close, and we do talk very frequently. So that’s been a lot of fun to have him back in my life. But it’s unclear at this point what’s going to happen with that.”
Rodgers said he expects his relationship with Love to go differently than his early relationship with Favre did. Rodgers and Love talked the day after the Packers selected Love.