We love Brett, but we gotta love Aaron

Tim Keown thinks we got Rodgers just when we didn't need him, and it was all good:

There are many lessons to be learned from the dual sagas of Aaron Rodgers and Alex Smith, not the least of which is this: The best time to draft a quarterback is when you don't need one.

Carrying a clipboard was the smartest thing the Packers asked Rodgers to do.
Easier said than done, of course, since there are times when you don't think you need one until suddenly you discover you do. Still, the idea is solid. It's pretty much unquestioned that quarterback is the most important position in any team sport. Nothing else really compares -- not a big-time starting pitcher (significant only every fifth day) or even a LeBron James-type basketball player (though that one comes closest).

When you factor in how much football coaches expect a quarterback to learn and how quickly they expect him to learn it, there's no other position that deserves a place in the discussion. And if NFL offenses seem at times to be overly complicated -- maybe even artificially complicated -- well, you're not alone in that line of thinking. No matter, though, since wondering if all of that professorial, sleep-in-the-office stuff is necessary doesn't make it any easier to master.

There's no doubt Rodgers would have rather been playing in Green Bay -- or maybe somewhere else -- than standing on the sidelines in a ballcap waving in signs like a third-base coach. For three years he played behind Brett Favre, and it was the rare instance in football where nobody clamored for the backup.

It's also true that Rodgers' time as a backup to Favre couldn't have been better for the Packers. How good do they look now? They drafted him in 2005 knowing he wouldn't play right away, and now that he is playing he looks like a younger, more practical version of Favre. So far, he's Brett without all those lovable mistakes.

The theory on Rodgers is this: It wouldn't have happened if he started as a rookie. In fact, if he had started as a rookie, it might not have happened at all.

I can't help but think "Heh."