Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, and, to an extent, Russell Wilson are the only starting quarterbacks today who have been balling for over a decade. Their longevity and ability to compete with younger, more athletic players have been quite impressive. According to NFL QB legend Steve Young, that staying power stems from the fact that they came up in a more sophisticated era that’s shaped by stricter rules and greater demands.
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Usually, people tend to write off these quarterbacks because of their age and the limitations that come with it. In the case of Rodgers and Wilson, they’ve lost their ability to run. For Stafford, it’s the deep ball that’s faded.
Yet… despite what these guys have lost, they’ve found a way to keep playing well into their careers.
That’s why Young believes these quarterbacks come from a more sophisticated era of football. He pointed out that their unmatched processing abilities not only allowed them to play longer, but also to enjoy the game more. Young used Rodgers as a prime example.
“One of the superpowers that Aaron has is processing, right? He’s been at it a long, long time. So, if your processing power is better than average, you want the ball out. So, you need people that can get into space… Fast-hitting, and that’s what he did in Green Bay for years,” Young shared on The Rich Eisen Show.
It’s exactly what Rodgers did in Green Bay because it’s what the league allowed him to do. With rule changes affecting how defenses could play, the field began to open up in the early 2010s. This shift made it easier for elite quarterbacks like Rodgers, Stafford, Wilson, and Tom Brady to process the game, knowing they had more protection.
But according to Young, one rule change in particular gave veteran QBs a significant advantage.
“The big rule change was that defenders could no longer lead with their head. Well, think about it. If you had to close the gap between you and another person and you couldn’t dive at them, you would now have to bring your legs. Which slows everything down,” Young explained.
It was a simple lesson in physics from the Hall of Fame QB. But it’s also something so basic that we often overlook it while watching the game. When leading with the helmet and diving at quarterbacks’ legs was outlawed, it drastically changed how defenders could apply pressure.
Young felt that this rule change made the game look entirely different to watch.
“It’s as if it became the Canadian League. The field got bigger. It didn’t change, but because defenders couldn’t patrol nearly as much speed, it gave it more college-like space.”
Only an NFL legend who played in the ’80s and ’90s could truly notice the subtle intricacies of the game that have changed since his playing days. In a way, it sounded as though he was suggesting that the modern-day game has become somewhat unsophisticated.
Young then used a quote that Tom Brady shared with him once to show how sharp older QBs used to be. “Steve, the flats are always open. The middle of the field is unpatrolled, and no one can hit me!” Brady told Young.
It must have felt empowering for quarterbacks like Brady and Rodgers to benefit from the protective rules the NFL has put in place for QBs. Young did mention that what Brady said to him was somewhat of an overstatement, but it paints a clear picture of how older, more sophisticated quarterbacks processed the rule changes.
“For people who learned in a more sophisticated era, it just makes it that much more profitable… Matthew [Stafford] and Aaron are the last ones. And I would say a little bit Russell Wilson,” Young concluded.
All in all, while it’s great that these older QBs have been able to extend their careers thanks to their mental capacity for seeing the game, it hasn’t really paid off for them in terms of championships. Rodgers still hasn’t won a Super Bowl since 2011, Wilson since 2014, and Stafford struggled to find one before finally getting his in 2022. Furthermore, dragging out their careers has affected their legacies within the game.
So, while Young is right in saying that these QBs have been able to play longer because of their processing powers, what he didn’t mention is that their physical limitations have ultimately hindered most of them from continued success.
