When Aaron Rodgers throws his first pass of the 2024 season, he will become the 10th quarterback to join the exclusive club.
If Rodgers earns 50 appearances — and the Jets’ hopes this season hinge on him significantly surpassing that number in his return from a torn Achilles — the enhanced criteria would cut the club’s membership down to seven.
According to Pro Football Reference, in the Super Bowl era that began in 1966, just nine quarterbacks have thrown a pass in their age-41 season, a significant drop from the 22 who had an age-40 season, including Rodgers.
Outside of the incomparable Tom Brady, who won his sixth Super Bowl at age 41 in 2018, the results have been mixed, highlighting just how risky it is to entrust so much to a pitcher like Rodgers, who has thrown 7,661 career innings.
But Rodgers’ confidence and acumen rival any great player.
“I always thought that if I was healthy, I could play with anybody in the league at that time,” Hall of Famer Warren Moon told The Washington Post when asked about the 41-year-old club. “The thing that’s in people’s minds in football is that once you get to a certain age — in my day it was 34 or 35 — your career becomes secondary, except for Tom Brady.”
“It’s a youth sport, but I felt like I was in really good condition to play. Was I as athletic as I was when I first came into the league? No, but I made up for it with defensive knowledge and anticipation. As I got older, I just got better.”
Rodgers made a similar adjustment.
But no quarterback who suffered a serious season-ending injury in his age-40 season — Drew Brees (torn thumb ligament) and Moon (high ankle sprain) — returned to the field before the year was over has played at a high level in his age-41 season.
Rodgers, who turns 41 ahead of the NBA’s Week 14 game against the Dolphins on Dec. 3, said he remains motivated by the opportunity to make history and “isn’t going to let it go by slacker.”
“At this age, you start looking for things to motivate you, things to motivate you, things to keep you competitively sharp,” said Moon, who was the 1997 Pro Bowl MVP at age 41.
“Aaron is a four-time MVP, so in his mind he can think, ‘I’ve done it all. What do I have to prove?’ But with this injury, people are starting to doubt him a little bit. So this is an incentive for him to say, ‘I’m going to go out there and show everyone I still have MVP-caliber play in me.'”
It’s one thing to say.
executing it is another.
“In New York, we’re all committed to Aaron,” Moon said. “It’s unfortunate that he got hurt, but the film I’ve seen of him, he looks like he’s moving really well. He has the talent around him to do it. He has a close relationship with the offensive coordinator. [Nathaniel Hackett] That helps too. It’s all in for him. It’s just a matter of how healthy he is and how well he can stay healthy. We’ll see what happens.”
Below is a list ordered by pass attempts in their age 41 seasons.
Tom Brady (2018, 570)
During a season in which Brady admitted to barely speaking with coach Bill Belichick, he didn’t finish outside the top seven in most major passing categories.
But he won the Super Bowl in his penultimate season with the Patriots, beating out first-year starter Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs.
Believe it or not, Brady won another Super Bowl at age 43, led the NFL in receiving yards (5,316) and touchdowns (43) at age 44 and led the NFL in completions and attempts at ages 44 and 45.
People may like to compare Rodgers to Brady, but he’s not Brady.
Warren Moon (1997, 528)
Moon was selected to the Pro Bowl eight consecutive years (ages 32-39), but the Vikings gave the starting spot to Brad Johnson in 1997 and released Moon when he didn’t want to take a pay cut to become a reserve.
He has denied long-standing reports that he broke his collarbone in 1996 at age 40 only to have it misdiagnosed as a high ankle sprain.
All Moon accomplished in his first year with the Seahawks was replace John Freese as a starter after one game, return to the Pro Bowl and throw for more touchdowns (25) than any other season since he turned 34 in 1990.
An 8-8 record was a success for Seattle at a time when the AFC was struggling.
Moon played the next three seasons but made just 11 starts total, with his age-41 season being the final true highlight of his legendary career.
Vinny Testaverde (2004, 495)
Old loyalties die hard.
In his second year at the helm of the Cowboys, head coach Bill Parcells signed Testaverde, who nearly led Parcells’ Jets to the Super Bowl in 1998.
Testaverde took over as starter after the Cowboys abruptly released playoff-experienced starting pitcher Quincy Carter after he failed a drug test.
Testaverde showed his age with an NFL-leading 20 interceptions.
He was overtaxed — his 495 attempts were the third-most of his 21-year career — and finished 5-10 ahead of backup Drew Henson (a former Yankees prospect) and little-known second-year prospect Tony Romo before returning to the Jets as a backup in 2005.
Drew Brees (2020, 390)
Brees’ raw numbers (9-3, 24 touchdowns, six interceptions) are good.
But the team’s decline was evident long before the Saints lost to Brady’s Buccaneers in the playoffs.
Brees missed four games with fractured ribs, but a right shoulder injury suffered early in his career also diminished his arm strength after throwing more than 10,000 passes.
His yards per attempt (7.5) in 2020 was tied for the second-lowest mark since 2007.
Brees retired after the season.
Brett Favre (2010, 358)
The end came quickly for Favre, who came out of retirement twice before leading the Vikings to the brink of a Super Bowl appearance in 2009 with a career-best and NFL-best 1.3 percent interception rate.
But Favre was coming off a miserable 2010 season in which he threw 10 touchdowns and 18 interceptions for the 4-7 Vikings, and a sprained AC joint in his shoulder ended his NFL-record streak of 297 consecutive starts.
He missed one game, suffered a concussion on the final snap of his career, then returned with two games remaining.
Doug Flutie (2003, 167)
Brees, who long before retired as the NFL’s all-time leader in completions, pass attempts and completion percentage, was benched for the 41-year-old Flutie as the Chargers got off to a 1-7 start.
Flutie completed 54.5 percent of his passes (nearly his career average) and threw 11 combined passing and rushing touchdowns with just four interceptions as he went 2-3 and handed the role back to Brees.
He remained for two more years as a backup.
George Blanda (1968, age 49)
Blanda led the NFL in completions and attempts from 1963-65, but was primarily a kicker at this point in his career. He started one game at quarterback in his final nine seasons (he retired in 1975 at age 48), throwing four touchdown passes to lead the Raiders to a 43-7 victory over the Broncos.
Earl Morall (1975, age 43)
Best known as a backup to Hall of Famers Johnny Unitas and Bob Griese, the former NFL MVP (1968) completed 26 passes in five games during his final season.
On Dec. 1, 1975, he made his 102nd career start against the Dolphins and became the oldest quarterback in nearly 30 years to make his 30th career start.
Mark Brunell (March 2011)
Can any Jets fan forget the three passes Brunell threw (all season) for Mark Sanchez in the final minutes of a 45-19 loss to the Eagles in the final year of his career?
Brunell has started just one game (for the Saints) since turning 37.
