Aaron Rodgers
It may seem strange to see such a young quarterback this high in the rankings, but Aaron Rodgers has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league ever since the day he became a starter, which was 7 years ago, after spending 3 years backing up Brett Favre, learning from one of the best.
His first season as a starter was easily his worst, finishing with "only" 4038 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. In his full seasons since, he has had fewer yards only once, and has never had fewer touchdowns or more interceptions. That was also the only season in his career in which he did not lead Green Bay to the playoffs.
In 2009, he was already the second-best QB in the entire league, throwing for 4434 yards, 30 touchdowns, and only 7 picks, and the Packers finished at 11-5. They lost in the wild card game to the Arizona Cardinals, but it wasn't because of Rodgers. He finished his first playoff start with 423 yards and 4 touchdowns, but was outplayed by Kurt Warner in a 51-45 shootout loss.
He completed his ascension to the peak in his third season, when he failed to reach 4000 passing yards for the only time in his career when healthy, but destroyed the competition in the playoffs. In the first two games combined, he threw over 540 yards and 6 touchdowns without an interception. After a rough game against Chicago that they still won 21-14, he made it to the Super Bowl and had a great game, with 304 yards and 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions for the third time in the postseason. That performance made him the Super Bowl MVP.
Right after the best postseason of his career, he came back with the best regular season of his career, and one of the greatest of all time. He threw career highs of 4643 yards and 45 touchdowns, and had only 6 interceptions all season. The team finished the season 15-1, and Rodgers was named the league's MVP, as if there could be any question after a season of that magnitude.
He was great again in 2012, with 4295 yards and 39 touchdowns, a little lower than the season before, but the season ended early again with a loss in the divisional round of the playoffs. He was on pace for another great season in 2013, but broke his collarbone and missed the final 7 games.
He came back at full strength last season, with 4381 yards and 38 touchdowns with a career-low 5 picks, and Green Bay finished at 12-4, tied for the best in the NFC. He was awarded his second NFL MVP award after the season, and he led the Pack to the NFC title game, where they lost a close one to Seattle, 28-22.
Although he has only played 6 full seasons, he has been one of the top 2 quarterbacks in the league in 5 of those seasons. He has never had fewer than 3900 yards or 28 touchdowns, and never more than 13 interceptions in a season. His career TD:INT ratio is almost 4:1, which is by far the best in history. He has set records for most yardage for a QB in their first two season and in their first 5 seasons, and has the third-highest completion percentage of any quarterback in history. Add in 2 MVP's and a Super Bowl MVP, and you have one of the greatest in history, and he still has a long career ahead of him.
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