Aaron Rodgers served as the backup to Hall of Famer Brett Favre with the Packers for his first three seasons in the NFL before taking over as the starter in 2008.
Rodgers said it was “tough” to learn that Favre, 54, had revealed he'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease on Tuesday.
“As you get older, you know, death hits you a little bit more,” Rodgers said Wednesday before the Jets' practice at Florham Park. “Unfortunately, it's become more of a normal thing to hear about death or a cancer diagnosis or a diagnosis like this. For me, it doesn't make you any less sensitive to it.”
“I mean, I feel sorry for him, [wife] “Deanna. Unfortunately, this is part of our game. This is part of the risk of playing in this league, and we know in the back of our minds that one day it may become a reality. We hope that one day the medication will catch up and alleviate the symptoms or eradicate some of the issues that we have.”
Favre, who retired from the NFL in 2010, made the announcement Tuesday while testifying at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on welfare waste and reform.
“Sadly, I have also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a groundbreaking concussion treatment that could help others,” Favre said in a prepared statement. “As you can all understand, I have recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease so it is too late for me, but this is important to me.”
Parkinson's disease is a nervous system movement disorder that worsens over time and has no known cure.
Favre, who started an NFL record 297 consecutive games, mentioned in his testimony the now-bankrupt concussion treatment company Prevacus in which he was an investor.
Favre was previously implicated in the 2020 Mississippi welfare scandal, in which he was accused of misusing welfare funds for personal projects, but was not criminally charged.
That included paying for a new volleyball center at the University of Southern Mississippi, his alma mater and where his daughter was a student-athlete.
When asked about his career total of 321 passing yards, which put him shy of 60,000, Rodgers also commented on how coach Favre handled the milestone.
“I remember when I was younger and Favre was setting a lot of records,” Rodgers said. “I think he caught 421 touchdown passes. [Dan] Marino at the time, the yards he had, the consecutive games he played, and he always said, “That's how long I've been playing.” But I thought it was more than that.
“Now that I'm in the position, that's how it feels. I feel like I've been playing for a long time and obviously this is part of the process, but I'm just grateful to still be playing and to be able to achieve a milestone like this. But I'm grateful to all the guys that caught passes from me, all the guys that blocked for me. I can't name everyone, but just give me some time.”
