Class is officially in session. We’re going to give out grades for the entire team. We’ll start with the quarterbacks and work our way through the team as the year went on. Now, I’ll not take you through the game film. But we are going to give you what Pro Football Focus says about these players. They’re not the gospel, but I do think it helps to lean on some expert opinions when our biases could blind us. The grade will blend how PFF feels about the player and what we saw this season from the player. Stats help but they can be empty at times. There are other considerations made for the player.

Aaron Rodgers: GRADE C+ -> Here’s the thing about Aaron Rodgers’ season. It wasn’t a good year for him. There were too many missed opportunities, and he didn’t really have a connection with any receivers other than Davante Adams. Now, Rodgers was hurt for half of the season where he didn’t practice, and with young receivers, that makes things really difficult. Only eight games featured Rodgers’ passer rating above 100, and when you consider he has the best quarterback rating in NFL history, that’s pretty bad. He was near the bottom of the quarterbacks in the NFL in completion percentage. Rodgers only threw 25 touchdowns. That’s the lowest in his career when playing 12 or more games. Put this into perspective, Rodgers had 16 touchdowns in seven games in 2017 before getting hurt against Minnesota.

Pro Football Focus would have graded the Packers star quarterback as a B+ with a 89.9 and the sixth-best quarterback of the season. That’s a little too much love for the quarterback in my opinion. Rodgers’ style of play and PFF haven’t always lined up. There have been some great Rodgers’ seasons where the analytics don’t match up with what’s on the field. Even though PFF and I aren’t on the same page, there were some memorable games that bumped his average up like the Chicago comeback, San Francisco, New York and the first Detroit game was better on paper than what’s remembered which is Mason Crosby.

What can be improved next season? A variety of things like everyone else on this roster. No one is perfect. Rodgers needs to work on checking down to running backs and the other receivers. Fingers crossed we’ll start seeing the quarterback we all know and love hitting open crossers and deep balls instead of overthrowing them or throwing it away. Mistakes are okay sometimes. If he had more interceptions because Rodgers took more risks, is anyone complaining today? Probably because fans are idiots.

DeShone Kizer: GRADE: D -> Nothing we saw from DeShone Kizer in Game 1 or Game 16 makes you feel good about him as a backup. I’m very interested in Tim Boyle and believe he will pressure Kizer for the second quarterback position next year. He showed some flashes, but no flashes that made you feel better about him than you did with Brett Hundley. Hopefully, Kizer keeps getting better and shows it in preseason driving up a potential trade piece in 2020.

Grades will continue tomorrow with running backs.

Charlie.