Aaron Rodgers kicked off his QB1 journey by stepping into Brett Favre’s shoes in Green Bay. Now, fast forward almost two decades, and he has taken Favre’s spot once again. Only this time, Rodgers isn’t just replacing Favre under center; he’s passing him on the all-time leaderboard.

At 41, in what might be his final ride, Rodgers has officially jumped Favre for fourth place in career touchdown passes in Sunday’s 21-14 win over the Patriots when he threw his 509th TD pass. Right after that went down, Rodgers’ teammate and the Steelers‘ DT, Cam Heyward, confirmed that Rodgers now plans to finally hang up his cleats. Heyward revealed it on his “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward” podcast.

“It was actually yesterday, and we were talking,” Heyward told Hayden Walsh, addressing Rodgers. “I was just like, ‘Congrats, you finally beat Brett.’ And he was like, ‘It only took 41 years to do that.’ And so he, you know, he made a comment, ‘Well, now I can just retire because that’s all I cared about.'”

We kind of saw it coming even before Rodgers broke Favre’s record against the Patriots. The 41-year-old quarterback signed a one-year, $13.65 million contract earlier this offseason. While having a chat on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers cleared his intention: The 2025 season is going to be his last. “I played 20 fricking years,” Rodgers said on the show.

“It’s been a long run. I’ve enjoyed it, and no better place to finish than in one of the cornerstone franchises of the NFL with Mike Tomlin and a great group of leadership and great guys in the city that expects you to win.” The Steelers, on the other hand, are betting on Aaron Rodgers to end their postseason drought. Rodgers has already achieved an individual milestone before calling it a career. Can he do the same for the Steelers? That remains to be seen.

Aaron Rodgers and his longevity achievement

Back in his third year holding the clipboard, Aaron Rodgers finally got his first taste of the end zone. And fittingly, it came while filling in for Brett Favre. He found Greg Jennings on an 11-yard strike against the Cowboys, though the Packers still walked away with a loss. Rodgers wouldn’t call that moment a career-defining spark, but looking back, it was the very first step on the road to 509 touchdown passes.

Now, he sits at No. 4 on the NFL’s career passing touchdown leader list with 509. The 21-year veteran is just behind Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571) and Peyton Manning (539). The 509th TD pass came when he connected with DK Metcalf for a 12-yard fade in the second quarter against the Patriots. But if you ask Rodgers, he’d just say that “It’s just a longevity achievement.”

“Some touchdowns, you make exceptional plays. Some, the scheme is so good, like the one to (running back) Jaylen (Warren) in the game – all I’ve got to do is not screw it up. And then sometimes you throw a short one to a guy and he goes 60 and it goes in the column all the same,” he said earlier this month.

Rodgers kicked off his farewell season while dropping four touchdown passes on the Jets right out of the gate. He cooled off a bit the next week with just one against the Seahawks, but kept chipping away until he finally hit the big milestone: career TD No. 509.