Jordan Rodgers took another shot at Arch Manning, and this time he did it on national television.
Rodgers appeared with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take and said he expects the Texas quarterback to slide outside the top 10 picks in next year’s NFL Draft, or even outside the top 10 quarterbacks selected. Smith pushed back hard on the idea.
"You trying to tell me a Manning is going to fall out of the top-10, at the quarterback spot? I mean, I need you tested right now"
"Ain't no way that's gonna happen."
Rodgers answered by leaning on his own family name.
"Then why wasn't I a first-round draft pick? I'm a Rodgers!"
That line was his attempt to put the Rodgers family on the same level as the Mannings, a comparison that doesn’t hold up under even a quick look. Smith immediately made it clear that the Manning name carries far more weight in football circles than Rodgers ever did.
Arch Manning’s path has been shaped by a football family that is impossible to miss. His uncles, Peyton and Eli Manning, played in the NFL, and his grandfather, Archie Manning, did too. Those connections helped build the profile he carried out of high school, and since arriving at Texas he has spent two years behind Quinn Ewers before taking over as the Longhorns’ starter last season.
Rodgers’ own background is a different story. Aaron Rodgers became a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and future Hall of Famer, but Jordan Rodgers was not a first-round pick and never played in an NFL game. He played at Butte Community College before moving on to Vanderbilt.
The draft history of the two families tells the story. Archie Manning went No. 2 overall in 1971.
Peyton Manning was the No. 1 pick in 1998. Eli Manning went No. 1 overall in 2004.
Aaron Rodgers was selected No. 24 in the 2005 NFL Draft after playing at Cal and earning First-team All-Pac-10 honors in 2004.
Jordan Rodgers’ college numbers at Vanderbilt were solid but not close to what Arch Manning has already put on tape. Over two seasons as Vanderbilt’s starter, Rodgers threw for 4,063 yards with 24 touchdowns and 15 interceptions, while adding 491 rushing yards and six scores. Manning, in his first season as Texas’s starter, put up 3,163 passing yards, 26 touchdowns and seven interceptions, along with 399 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.
For Rodgers to compare his own draft case to Manning’s was a stretch. The numbers, the family histories and the football resumes all point in different directions.
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