| Professional American football player Date of Birth: 02.12.1983 Country: USA |
Aaron Rodgers was born in Chico, California, on December 2, 1983, to Darla Leigh and Edward Rogers. Rodgers has English, Irish, and German ancestry. His father played college football as an offensive lineman for the University of California, Berkeley from 1973 to 1976. Aaron has two brothers, Luke and Jordan, who also plays football.
Rodgers played quarterback for Pleasant Valley High School in Chico. As a senior in high school, he passed for 4,421 yards, setting the school record. He also holds the school record for rushing yards in a season (2,466 yards in 2001) and in a game (440 yards with six touchdowns). Despite his impressive statistics, Rodgers did not receive any college football offers. He was interested in attending Florida State University to play under Bobby Bowden, but was rejected. His only scholarship offer was to be a backup at Illinois College, which he declined, intending to quit football and attend law school. He then enrolled at Butte College, located near Chico, to play football.
In his one season at Butte College, Rodgers threw for 26 touchdowns and led the team to a 10–1 record and a NorCal Conference Championship and the No. 2 ranking in the nation. While at Butte, he was noticed by California Golden Bears football head coach Jeff Tedford, who was surprised that Rodgers had not received a scholarship offer from a Division I college football team. As a result, Rodgers received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of California, Berkeley after one year at Butte College, playing for the California Golden Bears from 2003 to 2004. He set several school records during his time there. After three years of college football, Rodgers declared himself eligible for the 2005 NFL Draft.
Rodgers was drafted 24th overall by the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He served as the team's backup quarterback for the first three years of his NFL career, but became the starter in 2008: on March 4, incumbent starter Brett Favre announced his retirement. Rodgers quickly proved himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the league, passing for over 4,000 yards in his first full season as a starter, with 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
In 2009, Rodgers earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl as an alternate, as the third NFC quarterback behind Drew Brees and Favre. However, after Favre's injury and Brees' preparation for Super Bowl XLIV, Rodgers became the NFC's starting quarterback. He completed 15 of 19 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns, but the NFC lost the game.
In 2010, Rodgers led the Packers to victory in Super Bowl XLV. He was named Super Bowl MVP and the Associated Press Athlete of the Year for his performance.
On April 26, 2013, the Packers signed Rodgers to a five-year contract extension worth $110 million, making him the highest-paid player in NFL history at the time.
Rodgers won the NFL MVP Award for the 2014 regular season, receiving 31 of 50 possible votes.
He has led the NFL in touchdown-to-interception ratio three times (2011, 2012, 2014), passer rating twice (2011, 2012), and passing touchdown percentage twice (2011, 2012), and once in passing attempts (2011) and interception percentage (2009).
Rodgers holds the NFL record for regular season passer rating (105.2) and is third all-time in that category in the playoffs (103.6). He is currently the only quarterback with a career passer rating over 100.
Rodgers dated actress Olivia Munn from December 2014 until 2017. The Wisconsin State Legislature passed a resolution honoring Rodgers by declaring December 12, 2012 ("12/12/12") "Aaron Rodgers Day" in his honor, since Rodgers also wore the jersey number 12.
In 2015, he signed a long-term endorsement deal with Adidas. Rodgers previously had an endorsement deal with Nike.