Sometimes when you see a thing, you can only see it as it is. Frequently, we get lost in how things turned out and imagine they were foretold. When studying a war we view every battle through the lens of our knowledge of the end of the war. We see all football players as they were at the height of their powers. We imagine this was predetermined.
One such beneficiary is Aaron Rodgers. It is easy to look back and say he would have succeeded anywhere, but is that true? What does the growth of Rodgers mean for the future of Brett Hundley? In many ways Hundley is better situated.
The Rise of Rodgers
A long forgotten fact about Aaron Rodgers is how he struggled. We remember that Rodgers spent three years as an understudy to Brett Favre. Yet, we do not recall the vitriol that many threw toward Ted Thompson during the first few preseasons. We only recall what Rodgers became.
The three years were easily needed. Review the growth over these years.
| comp | att | yards | TD | INT | Comp% | Rtg | |
| 2005 | 20 | 37 | 172 | 1 | 2 | 54.0 | 53.0 |
| 2006 | 22 | 38 | 323 | 3 | 1 | 57.9 | 101.1 |
| 2007 | 37 | 59 | 382 | 3 | 0 | 62.7 | 98.3 |
The rookie year was a rough challenge. It got better and he grew. Rodgers was not the only one who found growth under Mike McMarthy‘s leadership.
McCarthy’s Offensive Leadership
McCarthy was a quarterback coach with the Kansas City Chiefs and Packers before his chance as an offensive coordinator with the New Orleans Saints. After getting varied results with Steve Bono, Rich Gannon and Elvis Grbac, McCarthy got a four-year run with Aaron Brooks. McCarthy turned the fourth-round draft pick into a quarterback who had four top ten seasons in yards.
| comp | att | yards | TD | INT | Comp% | Rtg | |
| 2001 | 312 | 558 | 3832 | 26 | 22 | 55.9 | 76.4 |
| 2002 | 283 | 528 | 3572 | 27 | 15 | 53.6 | 80.1 |
| 2003 | 306 | 518 | 3546 | 24 | 8 | 59.1 | 88.8 |
| 2004 | 309 | 542 | 3810 | 21 | 16 | 57.0 | 79.5 |
| 2005 | 240 | 431 | 2882 | 13 | 17 | 55.7 | 70.0 |
Now, when you look at the numbers above, remember that McCarthy left the Saints before the 2005 season.
After a year with the San Francisco 49ers, McCarthy joined the Packers. At this point he saw Brett Favre increase his completion percentage from 61.3 percent in the year before McCarthy arrived to 66.5 percent just two years later. Also, Favre’s rating rose from 70.9 to 95.7. Furthermore, Favre turned his touchdown to interception ratio went from 20:29 to 28:15.
Brett Hundley -The Next Man Up
So, we have seen the growth quarterbacks have had under Mike McCarthy. How did Brett Hundley start off in his first year? He completed 46 of 65 passes for 630 yards with seven touchdowns and one interception. That is good for a 69.2 percent completion percentage and a rating of 129.6.
Now, Hundley did not play last preseason. Still, it is pretty amazing that he put up such good numbers without a full off-season. Looking back at Rodgers growth from season one to three, we should expect great things from Hundley this year. Hundley already started off with production better than where Rodgers started. Rodgers went from having more interceptions than touchdowns to one of the best touchdown to interception ratios in NFL history. Now, Brett Hundley will not likely be Rodgers or replace him, but he will be one of the more interesting watches of the 2017 preseason.
