Aaron Rodgers isn’t the most outspoken quarterback in the NFL, but he might just be the most competitive.
The Packers QB has called himself “obsessively competitive,” claims to remember every interception he’s ever thrown, will sometimes go days without talking to his teammates because of locker-room card-game disputes, and once dropped an f-bomb on “Celebrity Jeopardy!” after missing a question. (He went on to win, of course.)
This sort of competitiveness is what helped an undersized high schooler with no Division 1 scholarship offers go from playing junior-college football to winning two regular season MVPs and a Super Bowl MVP. It’s what makes the Packers a Super Bowl contender year in and year out, and what makes Rodgers arguably the best quarterback on the planet.
This year, after a 4-6 start, Rodgers said his team could run the table. They won their last six game, and on Sunday play the Cowboys for a spot in the NFC Championship.
Here are 24 anecdotes to illustrate just how competitive the Green Bay quarterback really is.
Rodgers claims to remember every single interception and touchdown he's ever thrown — even from as far back as eighth grade. He also remembers specific high-school plays, down to the defensive formation.
Source: MMQB
When he was 9, Rodgers' family moved from Oregon to California. To be accepted to his new school, Rodgers needed to do an interview, and when asked what he would contribute to school, he said football. When he was 15, he would show up every morning in his coach's office before class to pick his brain about offensive and defensive schemes.
Source: E:60
As a senior in high school, he decided to play baseball after getting no Division 1 football offers. Once, he threw at a pitcher's head after the pitcher threw a 94-mile fastball at him while he was at bat. The two were separated moments before the benches cleared.
Source: JS Online
He kept all his rejection letters from Division 1 schools that weren't interested, and decided to attend Butte Community College despite getting a 1310 on his SAT. After one dominant season, he earned a scholarship to the University of California at Berkley.
Source:E:60
At Cal, Rodgers and some teammates had a weekly poker night. Rodgers never once showed emotion and reportedly won "75% of the time."
Source: JS Online
Rodgers was picked 24th overall in the 2005 NFL Draft. To this day, he gives Mike McCarthy a hard time about the fact that he was part of the coaching staff that took Alex Smith (the first overall pick) instead of Rodgers.
Read more: Aaron Rodgers teases his coach every year for drafting another quarterback ahead of him
In 2008, Rodgers and some of his Packers teammates were visiting a military base in Alaska when they wound up in an impromptu pick-up basketball game against some teen-aged military kids. Rodgers got his shot blocked by one of the kids, and on the next play posted the kid up, bodied him into the ground, and scored.
Source: JS Online
Every year at a Fourth of July barbecue hosted by one of his former Cal teammates, Rodgers takes games like ping-pong and horseshoes so seriously he always immediately calls next whenever he loses.
Source: JS Online
At former Packer Terrence Murphy's wedding in the Virgin Islands, a brawl almost broke out between Rodgers and some locals during a "friendly" beach volleyball game.
Source: JS Online
Rodgers and Packers fullback John Kuhn will sometimes go days without talking because of highly contested card games.
Source: JS Online
Last year, Rodgers won Celebrity Jeopardy!, easily beating Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary and astronaut Mark Kelly. Still, after missing this Daily Double (mixing up IBM and Apple), he dropped an f-bomb under his breath on air.
Source: SI
He and head coach Mike McCarthy are sometime seen arguing heatedly on the sidelines when the Packers offense isn't clicking.
Source: NFL.com
He still gives Kuhn a hard time for once talking in his backswing while the two were golfing together.
Source: SI
Two weeks after winning Super Bowl MVP, Rodgers decided to improve his nutrition, and eats an insane diet of six meals a day. He eats chicken and fish and brown rice and sweet potatoes, and he has stopped eating steak and starches before games.
Source: SI
During the 2015 playoffs, he played through a slightly torn calf despite not being able to even fully run.
Source: ESPN
During practice he sometimes tapes potato chips on his heels to force himself to stay on his toes.
Source: SI
He also throws footballs while running on the treadmill, and throws at a net attached to a moving motorcycle to stay sharp.
Source: SI
He watches Packers TV broadcasts to find weaknesses in his game.
Read more: Aaron Rodgers watches Packers TV broadcasts to look for weaknesses in his game
And he uses a customized mechanical contraption as a target during training camp because the normal targets were too easy
During a game of dodgeball with Packers teammates, Rodgers supposedly took it way more seriously than everyone else and mercilessly went after everyone on the other team.
Source: SI
Rodgers once insisted that he and pro golfer Jerry Kelly keep score at a charity golf tournament.
Source: SI
During practice and in the locker room, he always challenges teammates in to small competitions — often about things as random as Eastern European geography.
Source: SI
After the Packers stumbled to a 4-6 record this season, Rodgers said his team could run the table and win the rest of their remaining games. They did, and are now two games away from the Super Bowl.
And like Tom Brady — another quarterback fighting for a Super Bowl — Rodgers says he plans to play well into his 40s.
Source: SI
Now see if Peyton Manning was more competitive than Aaron Rodgers.
25 examples of Peyton Manning's competitiveness
