It’s early, but now that Brett Favre is gone (we think), ESPN’s John Clayton says that Aaron Rodgers has had a chance to impress at practice.
As it turns out, Rodgers has a very strong arm. He’s had the strong arm since he’s been in Green Bay. The football explodes off his hand on each throw in practice. Teammates have noticed it for years because they work with or against him in practice.
He has a smooth, polished retreat from center. His feet are in good position for each throw out of three- and five-step drops.
And then you take notice. His right arm sets up naturally, and the ball comes out unnaturally fast.
“He has a cannon,” wide receiver Greg Jennings said. “We call him the ‘Human Jugs Machine.’ He throws it like a Jugs machine every time.
Aaron Rodgers has set himself aside as the team leader this offseason.
“He can make every throw on the football field, and his deep ball is one of the prettiest. Brett had a great deep ball, but Aaron has a beautiful one.”
Rodgers, despite being debated as a pick for the top of the 2005 draft, fell all the way to the Packers at No. 24. Scouts were skeptical because [Jeff] Tedford quarterbacks make slow, if not disappointing, transitions into the NFL. This is where Rodgers might have caught a break. Being Favre’s backup is like being in the witness protection program. No one sees you. No one judges you.
The time away from the limelight allowed Rodgers to make a few natural adjustments in his delivery.
“It’s really where I carried the ball,” Rodgers said. “It’s not a conscious thing. We were drilled every day at Cal to hold the ball high and were drilled in the way our arm dropped. When I got to the NFL, we weren’t doing that every day. It came up with a more natural position.”
“As that happened, my release point was able to center up a little better,” Rodgers said. “I became way more consistent with my release point. The more consistent you are with your release point, the more accurate you are.
“Coming out in the draft, my release was kind of the knock on me. I had no problem with my release point coming back down. Once it did, I felt the accuracy was back. Once I got to a more natural point, I was throwing like it was in high school.”
“Aaron has a very strong arm and really always has,” McCarthy said. “We dropped his ball carriage. He had a very high one when he came out. Now, it’s a little more fluid and that helps him transition more into the movement part of it. He’s very fundamentally strong. He’s clearly one of the better guys I’ve had the opportunity to work with.”
Who knows, maybe sitting and learning behind Favre for three years is exactly what Rodgers needed. Most quarterbacks don’t get the luxury of easing their way into the starting role, and as a result, most don’t make a very smooth transition.
Rodgers looked sharp last season when he filled in for an injured Favre in Dallas. Prior to that, he wasn’t very impressive in the snaps he got. But now that he’s “The Man,” all bets are off. It’s so difficult to follow a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and I’m sure just about everyone in Packerland is rooting for him.
