Few NFL quarterbacks have been as simultaneously fascinating and frustrating as Aaron Rodgers. His four NFL MVP awards put him one behind Peyton Manning’s all-time record, and he has a Super Bowl win, a Super Bowl MVP and 10 Pro Bowls to his name. He’s undoubtedly one of the greatest passers in NFL history. Yet, he is also a polarising figure with a weakness for conspiracy theories and a reputation as a thin-skinned diva.
Ian O’Connor, author of multiple sports books, including a biography of Bill Belichick, turns his attention to Rodgers, seeking to unravel the enigma of a quarterback who has gone from revered to reviled, from beloved Packer to New York experiment. Out of the Darkness digs into the contradictions and complexities that define Rodgers: his feuds with coaches, his controversial vaccine stance, and his tendency to use the media as both a weapon and a shield.
Through extensive interviews with teammates, coaches, and family members, O’Connor paints a picture of a man whose brilliance on the field is matched by his unpredictability off it. In typically mercurial fashion, Rodgers sat down with O’Connor to respond to anecdotes and claims from the 250 interviews conducted for the book. O’Connor says that there were “a couple of tense exchanges” but that Rodgers ultimately said: “Listen man, you’ve done a lot of research. A lot of stuff I don’t care about, honestly.”
Title: Out of the Darkness
Author: Ian O’Connor
First published: Mariner Books, 2024
Buy the Book: Amazon US | Amazon UK
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That image of the easy-going Californian appears frequently during the book, as does the shadow of a cold, merciless operator, happy to cut ties with anyone who stands in his way. Then there’s the darkness retreat, a literal and metaphorical symbol of Rodgers’ ever-deepening introspection. O’Connor attempts to answer the question: Is Rodgers a misunderstood genius or his own worst enemy?
THE AUTHOR
Ian O’Connor is a veteran sports journalist and the author of multiple bestselling biographies, including Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski, Belichick: The Making of the Greatest Football Coach of All Time, and The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter. His work has appeared in The New York Times, ESPN, and USA Today.
EXCERPTS
“He developed little play cards, little plays, his own plays,” his father said. “He learned math by looking at stats and players’ heights and weights. . . . He did that for hours.”
“Tedford said it usually takes five to seven months to fully learn his offense,” Schwartz said. “Aaron knew it in sixty days.”
One writer who interviewed Rodgers at Cal called him the cockiest person he had ever met.
The Packers wanted to give Favre a lucrative, long-term marketing deal just to keep him on the sidelines. That was how much they did not want him playing for their team.
Nobody ever wanted to end up on Aaron’s island. It was a cold and lonely place, with no cell or internet access to the man who put you there. All of Aaron’s friends knew that to communicate with anyone sentenced to the Island was to risk landing on the Island yourself.
And yet, as Kalyn Kahler wrote for Sports Illustrated, Rodgers changed plays so often that it could be difficult for McCarthy “to get into a rhythm as the play caller. McCarthy might call the same play three times in a game, without the play actually being run as he called it. And if McCarthy calls a play that Rodgers doesn’t like early in the game, that can sour the mood for the rest of the game.”
While teammates and everyone else in the organization knew of Rodgers’s unvaccinated status, and while the quarterback had been fulfilling the vast majority of his daily masking and testing obligations inside the team facility, he was not wearing a mask, as required, while taking questions from reporters during his weekly availability in the auditorium.
Rodgers’s backup in 2018, DeShone Kizer, told podcaster Adam Breneman the story of how his first meeting with Rodgers started behind closed doors with the starter asking him this question: “Do you believe in 9/11?” When Kizer assured his new teammate that he had no reason not to believe in the facts of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that claimed nearly three thousand lives, Rodgers said, “You should read up on that.”
REVIEWS
Much like its subject, Out of the Darkness is compelling and at times frustrating. O’Connor has done his usual thorough research job and has a wealth of anecdotes and perspectives on Aaron Rodgers. And yet there is still a mystery at the heart of the man, and that can’t help but be reflected in the book. For example, Rodgers abruptly cut his parents out of his life several years ago without telling them why. What O’Connor discovers is that nobody else knows why either. Only Rodgers does, and he isn’t telling.
These frustrations are inevitable but there is still plenty here for Rodgers-lovers – or haters – to dig into. This is not a football-heavy book in the Xs and Os sense. Fans hoping for deep dives into Rodgers’ mastery of Matt LaFleur’s offense or his legendary ability to manipulate defenses might come away disappointed. But for those interested in the man behind the mask—his motivations, his ego, his desire to control his own narrative, O’Connor provides plenty to dissect.
Ultimately, Out of the Darkness is as much about identity as it is about football. Rodgers has long resisted easy labels, and this book ensures that the mystery surrounding him will only continue to grow.
Shane Richmond, Pigskin Books
“A well-crafted portrait of perhaps the most talented QB of all time, allowing for a flaw and faux pas for every TD.”
Kirkus Reviews
“O’Connor offers a granular account of barbs traded in the press between Rodgers and his estranged family, but the origins of the dispute and what it reveals about Rodgers remain unclear. O’Connor also throws up his hands when it comes to elucidating Rodgers’s conspiratorial tendencies, noting that the athlete is habitually drawn to debunked theories about the JFK assassination, 9/11, and Covid vaccines but offering little insight as to why. This comes up short.”
Publisher’s Weekly
“O’Connor’s interview with Rodgers doesn’t seem to have produced much new, off-the-field information, but if an insightful look at the magic he has made on the gridiron is what you seek, ‘Out of the Darkness’ could be for you.”
Chris Hewitt, Minnesota Star Tribune
“Out of the Darkness will provide some insight into Rodgers’ never-boring career (the book mostly avoids the personal side of the story, except about the family rift). But biographies often come down to how much the reader likes the subject, and Aaron Rodgers remains a strange figure after the last page.”
Budd Bailey, The Sports Bookshelf
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