Top 50 Cal Pros: No. 2 - Aaron Rodgers, Four-Time MVP

Why we ranked him here: Bypassed through much of the first round in the 2005 NFL Draft, Rodgers went on to became one of the game’s biggest stars. The Packers took him with the No. 24 pick and Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre for three seasons. He became a starter in Year 4 and a year later blossomed into an efficient playmaker and earned the first of 10 Pro Bowl selections. Rodgers won four MVP awards — 2011, 2014, 2020 and 2021 — the second-most in NFL history, trailing only Peyton Manning with five. He played 18 seasons with the Packers, leading the storied franchise to 12 postseason appearances, including six NFC championship games. Green Bay made it to just one Super Bowl with Rodgers at the helm, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 after the 2010 season. Rodgers threw nine touchdown passes in four postseason games that year, including three in Super Bowl XLV when he was named the game’s MVP. He spent the past two years with the New York Jets, his 2023 debut season wiped out by an Achilles tear on the fourth offensive snap of the season opener. Through his first 20 NFL seasons, Rodgers passed for 62,952 yards (7th all-time) with 503 touchdown passes (5th all-time). His INT rate of 1.4 percent is best in NFL history as is his 8.22 yards per attempt. His career passer rating of 102.6 is the highest in NFL history. He has thrown 40-plus TD passes in three seasons, including an NFL-best 48 in 2020 when he also led the NFL with a 70.7 completion percentage during his third MVP season. Rodgers signed a one-year deal to play next fall for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and has said he expects it to be his final season.

At Cal: Coach Jeff Tedford found Rodgers at Butte Junior College while actually recruiting a tight end. In 2003, his first season at Cal, Rodgers passed for 2,903 yards with 19 touchdowns and just five interceptions while completing nearly 62 percent of his attempts. A year later he threw for 2,566 yards and 24 TDs, and tied an NCAA record by completing his first 23 pass attempts in a 23-17 loss to top-ranked USC. He finished ninth in the 2004 Heisman Trophy voting. Rodgers led the Bears to a two-year record of 18-8, including 10-2 in 2004 before entering the NFL draft. In 2019, Rogers made a seven-figure gift to Cal that was used to renovate the football locker room and create a scholarship in his name.

Other: Rodgers has become a something of a polarizing figure in recent years due to controversial statements and off-field behavior. In August 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he responded that he was “immunized” to a reporter’s question about his vaccination status. Three months later, after contracting COVID, Rodgers acknowledged that he had received treatment from a homeopathic doctor to increase his antibody levels but had not actually received a vaccine. . . . In August 2022, Rodgers  revealed he used ayahuasca, a traditional Amazonian plant-based psychedelic brew, during a 2020 retreat in Peru, and claimed it helped him win back-to-back MVPs in 2020 and ’21. . . . In ’22, he said he turned down an invitation by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be a presidential running mate. . . . Last month, after signing with the Steelers, he told reporters he had gotten married “a couple months” earlier, although he did not reveal his wife’s name.