Without a doubt, the three greatest quarterbacks of the 2010s were Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning. The three have combined to win 10 Super Bowl championships, and of course, Rodgers, who is going to leave the New York Jets, will likely play at least one more season.
Rodgers made his name with the Green Bay Packers, the team he was with from his rookie year in 2005 through the 2022 campaign. When he led them to the Vince Lombardi Trophy in 2010, which was just his third year as their QB1, it looked like perhaps it was going to be the first of several world championships. But years later, he’s still stuck on one championship, which pales in comparison to Brady’s seven rings.
That disparity in Super Bowl wins is the main reason most consider Brady to be not only better than Rodgers but also the greatest quarterback and player in NFL history. But Pro Football Hall of Famer Cris Carter has a different take.
During an appearance on Fox Sports 1’s “Speak for Yourself,” he said that while Brady is the most accomplished quarterback ever, Rodgers was a better player. Carter’s argument was that if the two traded places, Rodgers would deliver at least the same results, but Brady wouldn’t have been able to succeed as much as Rodgers did in Green Bay because of his limitations.
“Now you could make a case and you say okay I put Aaron Rodgers on any team you get the same results or better. Yes, because you can’t put Tom Brady on Green Bay and then do things offensively with the mechanics the way they do it because he doesn’t have the skill set to go bide time like Aaron does.”
“But Tom Brady in New England is the most accomplished quarterback that we have ever seen and by the time he’s done I believe will be the most accomplished. I’m not saying the greatest quarterback ever because that don’t really matter. It is what quarterback accomplishes the most.”
There is no doubt that Brady is the most accomplished quarterback that has ever walked the planet. But an argument could be made, and it is the argument Colin Cowherd made on that same episode of “Speak for Yourself,” that Rodgers’ peaks were higher than Brady’s peaks.
Both men displayed impressive longevity. Brady won two Super Bowl titles in his 40s, while Rodgers won two of his four league MVPs in his late 30s during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
Brady backers would argue that Rodgers’ 1-4 record in conference championship games (which includes a loss to Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers) greatly hurts his historical standing. However, the flip side of that argument is that Rodgers never had the same cadre of Pro Bowl or Hall of Fame teammates that Brady had. Rodgers never had the benefit of stars such as Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Wes Welker or Mike Evans, nor did he have an all-time great head coach such as Bill Belichick.
But it’s all water under the bridge now. Packers fans have a young team led by young stud QB Jordan Love, Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs and a number of other young stars to look forward to over the next few years. Perhaps that group will eventually bring a Lombardi trophy of its own to Wisconsin.
