OUT OF THE DARKNESS

A dispiriting yet readable biography of gridiron great Aaron Rodgers, his own worst enemy.

“Rodgers was widely regarded to be among the two or three most talented players ever at the most glamorous position in American team sports,” writes O’Connor, who has authored bios of other larger-than-life sports figures, including Mike Krzyzewski, Bill Belichick, and Derek Jeter. Rodgers has played through monstrous injuries and inspired his teammates to greatness. Yet he constantly rubbed people wrong with a self-confidence that smacked of arrogance, though walking the walk by excelling at basketball and baseball as much as football. Despite his talent, his mechanics gave pro scouts pause. As his college coach at Cal explained of Rodgers’ fired-at-ear-level signature pass, “Aaron’s was unusually high mainly because his back arm was high….He was higher than the rest of our guys. But I didn’t mess with it because he was phenomenal.” It may have been that passing style that led pro managers to believe that Rodgers couldn’t be taught, for which reason he was selected by the Packers late in the draft in 2005. There lay the seeds of the weighty chip he would bear on his shoulder, but there was more that detracted from his undeniable on-field skill—e.g., his off-putting comments about 9/11, his “divorce” from his parents and siblings, his lying about being vaccinated for Covid-19 out of his conviction that the vaccine was “experimental gene therapy that changes your DNA,” and his fascination with UFOs and seemingly every conspiracy theory to come along. Though well publicized individually, in the aggregate these foibles make for dismaying reading, and they diminish Rodgers in the face of competition like Peyton Manning and, more recently, Patrick Mahomes.

A well-crafted portrait of perhaps the most talented QB of all time, allowing for a flaw and faux pas for every TD.