Aaron Rodgers to Denver would create chaos in AFC West

Fri, Jan 28, 2022
NFL News (AP)

The Green Bay Packers' season has come to a close, but the most important question of their offseason -- and possibly the entire NFL -- remains.

Where will Aaron Rodgers be playing during the 2022 season?

Rodgers' future with the franchise is once again in flux, but there is a potential suitor that has arisen that many feel makes a lot of sense: the Denver Broncos.

After hiring former Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett as their new head coach, it appears the Broncos are laying the foundation for a potential run at Rodgers.

Hackett served as the Packers' offensive coordinator for each of the past three seasons, in which the franchise won 39 regular-season games while appearing in two NFC Championship Games.

He also has received a glowing endorsement from Rodgers in the past, with the quarterback stating that nobody in the Packers' organization brought him "more joy" than Hackett.

If Rodgers were to follow Hackett to the Broncos and into the AFC West, he would join a division that has been owned by the Kansas City Chiefs of late, who are led by one of the few quarterbacks in the NFL who can look Rodgers in the eyes, Patrick Mahomes.

But would the arrival of Rodgers potentially signal the end of Mahomes and the Chiefs' reign over not only the AFC West, but also the AFC as a whole?

Nick Wright doesn't believe so.

"The question should be why would Aaron Rodgers dare join Patrick Mahomes' division?" Wright said on "First Things First." "In the last 10 years, Mahomes has won more playoff games than Aaron Rodgers."

If the Green Bay Packers were to trade Aaron Rodgers to the Denver Broncos, the veteran quarterback would land right in the division of Nick Wright's Kansas City Chiefs.

While Mahomes is currently the bully in the AFC, Rodgers' career numbers against the conference suggest that he would be more than fine if he were to switch over.

In 53 career games against the AFC, Rodgers has thrown for 14,113 yards, 116 passing touchdowns and only 25 interceptions with a passer rating of 101.6.

When narrowing that sample size down to the AFC West, Rodgers has been even more efficient, throwing 29 passing touchdowns to only three interceptions and a passer rating of 112.8.

In those 12 games against AFC West opponents, Rodgers is 9-3.

While Chris Broussard was in agreement that Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL, he lamented how that isn't a guarantee for future success, especially if Rodgers indeed joins the Broncos.

"Even with as great as Mahomes is, and as great as we think they'll be, history tells you they're not going to make the Super Bowl every year," Broussard said. "And Denver, with Aaron Rodgers, will be a legitimate contender."

Just like Denver's fortunes changed when Peyton Manning arrived after years in Indianapolis, Rodgers could put John Elway's franchise back in a position to climb to the NFL mountaintop.

But fact is, in the AFC, there are a few more young billy goats that he'd have to knock over on the trek upward.