For the fourth time in his career, Aaron Rodgers is the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.
Rodgers was named MVP during the NFL Honors ceremony on Thursday evening, earning the award for a tremendous regular season for the Green Bay Packers in 2021. This gives him back-to-back MVPs and four such awards overall, adding to the honors he also received in 2011, 2014, and 2020.
With his fourth MVP, Rodgers trails only Peyton Manning and his five MVPs for the most all-time. Notably, Manning was the person who introduced Rodgers as this year’s MVP winner. Rodgers had previously been tied with Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre, and Tom Brady with three while Favre, Rodgers’ predecessor in Green Bay, is famously the only player to ever win three consecutive MVPs, doing so in 1995, 1996, and 1997.
Rodgers led the NFL in nearly every mark of overall passing efficiency this season, including passer rating (111.9), QBR (69.2), and adjusted net yards per attempt (8.00). Rodgers also led the way in touchdown rate (7.0% of his pass attempts) and interception rate (0.8%), as well as EPA per play (0.247).
The MVP curse remains in place for another season, however. Not since Kurt Warner in 1999 has the NFL MVP’s team won the Super Bowl. In two of Rodgers’ MVP seasons (2014 and 2020), the Packers lost in the NFC Championship Game; 2011 and 2021 saw the Packers earn the conference’s top seed but lose in upsets in the Divisional Playoffs.
Rodgers’ future remains in question, however, as he gave no indications during his acceptance speech about any decision on his future. After a tumultuous offseason last year, speculation has swirled about Rodgers asking to be traded or even retiring following the 2021 season. While no decision is final yet, Rodgers has said publicly that he plans to inform the Packers of his decision before the franchise tag deadline, which is on March 8th.
Credit: Various
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