Packers: Aaron Rodgers vs. Brett Favre Comparison
By Tim Muma
Many would assume Rodgers has a big edge over Favre in this department. But when comparing the Packers QBs in each time frame, it’s much closer.
Through 2015, Rodgers owned the 6th-best completion percentage (65.1 percent) in NFL history. Obviously impressive, but no the whole story.
Of the top 13 players with the best career completion percentage, 10 of them became full-time starters in 2001 or later. That’s a telltale sign of the era of football we’re in.
One other potentially little known fact: Rodgers has never led the league in single-season completion percentage.
For the purposes of this comparison of Favre and Rodgers, Favre’s last year was 2001. So he didn’t get to enjoy this surge in completion percentage during his prime when the game really started to favor the passing game.
Overall, Favre ranked 17th all time entering 2015 with a 62 percent mark.
From 2008-2015, Rodgers had a 65.3 completion percentage. That was 3.99 percent better than the league average.
For Favre, his completion percentage sat at 60.6 from age 25-32. His accuracy was 2.99 percent higher than the league between 1994-2001.
One other potentially little known fact: Rodgers has never led the league in single-season completion percentage. Meanwhile, Favre tied for the best completion percentage in 1998 at 63 percent.
So if you compare the simple, raw date, then Rodgers has the clear edge. However, when you compare the two based on the style of game and rules at the time each played, it suddenly looks like Favre is just as good as Rodgers in this department.