If you want to know how NFL locker rooms view Matthew Stafford and Aaron Rodgers differently, look no further than veteran wide receiver Davante Adams. The wide receiver has played with both veteran quarterbacks, spending eight seasons with Rodgers in Green Bay and last year with Stafford. Just one year with the Los Angeles Rams, Adams admitted he wants to retire whenever Stafford hangs up his boots. After their loss in the NFC Championship Game, Stafford told Adams that he was sorry, adding, “I wanted that for you so bad,” as revealed by the three-time First-Team All-Pro receiver. 

FOX Sports host Jason McIntyre used the same argument surrounding Matthew Stafford’s likability and grounded leadership to shut down the veteran quarterback debate on The Herd, along with the reigning NFL regular-season MVP’s form over recent years. The Aaron Rodgers-Matthew Stafford debate followed the latter’s securing the No. 4 spot on the NFL’s 2026 Top 100 list. 

“Matt Stafford is immensely more likable than Aaron Rodgers. And oh, by the way, it’s not how you start; it’s how you finish. Matt Stafford is finishing on a very high note. Aaron Rodgers is absolutely not,” McIntyre stated on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. 

Stafford earned that top-5 peer ranking on the back of his domination from under center in 2025. At 37 years of age, the Rams QB took home his 1st league MVP award after leading the NFL with 4,707 passing yards and 46 TDs, while guiding Los Angeles to the NFC Championship Game, which they lost barely, due to a late 4th-down goal-line stop in a 31-27 loss against eventual champions, the Seattle Seahawks.

However, the subsequent off-season additions of reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett and, now, eight-time First-Team All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald coming out of retirement have driven the Rams’ Super Bowl odds to 16% on Polymarket. That would be Stafford’s 2nd, putting him 1 ahead of Rodgers, who has declared that the 2026 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers will be his last. 

With WR Puka Nacua ranked 7th on the NFL’s Top 100 list, that’s three Rams starters in the Top 10 (Garrett is 1st, Stafford is 4th). If the Rams hoist the Lombardi Trophy at SoFi Stadium next year, that would put Matthew Stafford alongside Peyton Manning, John Elway, and Ben Roethlisberger as multi-time Super Bowl-winning starters, while Rodgers hasn’t featured in a Super Bowl since the 2010 season. 

Despite this, Rodgers has four NFL MVPs to his name compared to Stafford’s one. Rodgers’ last NFL MVP came in 2021, in his age-38 season, proving that his longevity is no joke. However, Stafford has picked up the pace in the last five seasons and has posted much better statistics than Aaron Rodgers. 

“If you’re just talking resumes, hard numbers, Rodgers has it. But we know that this is a beauty contest. And it’s like, COVID really messed up Aaron Rodgers. He came out of it angry and surly. He was already a bit of a jerk to the media before that; we know that. But he got really political… It’s just darkness retreat; he got weird.

“You know what Matt Stafford got? Friendly, warm… He’s always smiling in interviews. Very likable. I mean, you can’t say anything negative about Matt Stafford. Rodgers? I mean, how many teammates have bashed him? Find me the old teammates of Stafford that are like, ‘Ah, that guy Matt Stafford.’ I mean, Rodgers rankles people,” McIntyre added.

While Matthew Stafford did not have the best of stints during his Detroit years, McIntyre notes that it was not only up to Stafford with the Lions. Instead, the defense was never up to the mark. So despite having WR Calvin Johnson on the side, the 2009 first overall draft pick never managed to lead the Lions to a Lombardi Trophy.

The numbers back up McIntyre’s take of Stafford finishing strong, unlike Rodgers. Between 2021 and 2025, Stafford went 46-28 with 19,407 yards and 141 TDs, plus a 7-3 playoff mark. Meanwhile, Rodgers posted a 37-30 record, 15,029 yards, and 115 TDs, while going 0-2 in the postseason.

McIntyre argued that legacy discussions evolve quickly, especially if Stafford secures another championship while Rodgers finishes out his career with likability strongly in favor of Stafford.