Once upon a time, a Super Bowl champion and multiple MVP-winning quarterback who had a legendary career with the Green Bay Packers left the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field for Broadway and New York City. But that tenure in the Big Apple didn’t go well, so this iconic player then joined a divisional rival of the Packers, the Minnesota Vikings.
“By all means, sign with them,” Favre replied when asked what he’d say to Rodgers if the latter was thinking of signing with the Vikings.
“They got a really good football team. They’re loaded at pretty much every position. They made it to the playoffs last year. They got a tremendous fan base, much like the Packers. If you get the opportunity, that’s a good place to win. Of course, you gotta play the Packers then.”
Both Favre and Rodgers were in their late 30s when they left the Packers to join the Jets, only for each to have forgettable stints with Gang Green. Favre led the NFL with 22 interceptions in his lone season in New York in 2008 as the team missed the playoffs. As for Rodgers, he infamously tore his Achilles’ tendon just four plays into his first year in New York in 2023 and teased returning at some point that season only to remain sidelined. He remained healthy and upright in Year 2 in New York but suffered through a career-worst 5-12 season, while also having a career-worst 90.5 passer rating.
The third act of Favre’s career, as a Viking in 2009, was promising to start as he posted the highest passer rating (107.2) of his career. Favre led Minnesota to the NFC Championship Game, but it was all downhill from there. Favre had three turnovers in the game as Minnesota fell to the New Orleans Saints, then the QB had a disastrous final NFL season in 2010. He had 11 touchdowns versus 19 interceptions and saw his record-breaking consecutive games starting streak come to an end.
So Rodgers can look at Favre and see reasons for and against joining the Packers’ rival. While Rodgers’s split with the Packers wasn’t as acrimonious as Favre’s, the former joining Minnesota would create just as much hostility from Packers fans as Favre’s suiting up in purple.
On Wednesday, the first day of the 2025 NFL year, Rodgers was officially released by the Jets, making him a free agent for the first time in his career. It just so happens that the Vikings suddenly have an opening in their QB room after last year’s starter, Sam Darnold, hit free agency and parlayed his breakout 2024 season with Minnesota into a reported three-year, $100.5 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks.
The Vikings did draft J.J. McCarthy in the first round in 2024, but he missed his entire rookie season due to a torn meniscus, an injury that required surgery in August and a second operation in November. Minnesota could certainly go the route of using a certain four-time MVP-winning quarterback as a stopgap until McCarthy is ready to take the job, and McCarthy’s age could play a factor in that. Of the 11 quarterbacks drafted last season, the then-21-year-old McCarthy was the youngest, and he’s also younger than the top two QB prospects in the 2025 draft: Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward.
It’s still unclear if Rodgers wants to keep playing. He hasn’t explicitly said he wants to, and throughout this past season, he waffled on coming back in 2025. You would assume the soon-to-be 42-year-old wants to play for a contender, and the Vikings are coming off a 14-3 season. Of the 14 teams that made the playoffs last year, they are one of two that isn’t completely settled at the quarterback position. The other one, Pittsburgh, reportedly has interest in Rodgers as well.
But playing for Pittsburgh wouldn’t let him gain a new appreciation of the Packers-Vikings rivalry, which Favre was able to do.
“Love-hate relationship at its best. That’s what makes it such a great rivalry. I got to see it from both sides. It made me appreciate both sides even more,” said Favre. “So if [Rodgers] gets that opportunity, why not? If that’s where he chooses to play, if they ask him. We’ll see.”
