Packers: Expect Aaron Rodgers’ interceptions to skyrocket this season
With the Green Bay Packers possessing the fewest playmakers during Aaron Rodgers’ tenure, don’t be surprised to see the back-to-back MVP throw a career-high in interceptions this season.
Rodgers has been notoriously careful with the football and is one of the best to do it. He has the highest touchdown to interception ratio in NFL history at 4.33 and it’s not even close. He laps the competition with Patrick Mahomes coming in at second at 4.08 and Russell Wilson at third with a 3.36 rate. Only one other quarterback has registered above a 3 (Tom Brady at 3.07).
His ability to take care of the rock ensures his team doesn’t waste possessions. He has five seasons with five or fewer interceptions, including four straight entering the 2022 season and a whopping two on 597 passing attempts back in 2018. Unsurprisingly, his interception rate of 1.31 percent is the best in NFL history.
Don’t be surprised to see Aaron Rodgers’ interceptions skyrocket this season with a plethora of young and new wide receivers on the Green Bay Packers.
Critics have called Rodgers out for playing it too safe in the past. They say he doesn’t take enough chances with the ball, often choosing to throw it out of bounds instead of forcing the issue to a wide receiver. Those voices were especially loud during the last couple of years of Mike McCarthy’s tenure when Rodgers kept his interceptions low, but his completion percentage bottomed out.
It will be interesting to see how Rodgers balances the equation this year.
The Packers have Super Bowl aspirations after winning 13 regular season games in each of the last three years. They’ve re-tooled their team this offseason thanks to the departures of Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. That forced them to bring in the underwhelming Sammy Watkins as their lone veteran free agent signing and draft receivers such as Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs.
Watson and Doubs look like part and have a good chance of developing into legitimate receivers down the road. However, it may take time for that to happen. Time that Rodgers doesn’t have nor want to waste.
We’ve already seen the struggles of the receiving group and the impact it can have on the quarterback. Jordan Love threw three interceptions in the first game and should only be accountable for one of them. His receivers dropped two passes that hit their hands before finding their way into the defense’s arms. Even the third interception was when Love made a lousy decision only after his receiver ran the wrong route.
Rodgers publicly griped about his young receivers earlier this week and the team held a meeting the next day. If those guys are going to get on the field during the regular season, chances are the mistakes will continue. That could lead to miscommunication between them and Rodgers, causing more interceptions than Packers’ fans are used to.
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Even though interceptions are credited solely to the quarterback, it’s a two-man stat. Don’t be surprised to see Rodgers’ interceptions skyrocket as a result–his career-high is 13 (lol) set back in 2008–his first season starting. He hasn’t thrown double-digits since 2010 (again, lol). That could change this season.