Aaron Rodgers Gets His First Tattoo

Aaron Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers superstar quarterback and noted anti-vaxxer, proved to the world that he isn’t afraid of all needles on Wednesday when he shared a photo of his first tattoo.

Rodgers went to fineline black-and-grey specialist Balazs Bercsenyi to get a very intriguing tattoo that has blown up social media as sports fans attempt to untangle all the possible meaning packed within.

Here at Inked we often bristle at the idea that every tattoo needs to have a meaning, but considering that Rodgers himself said “There’s a deep and meaningful story and connection to absolutely each element of this art piece, and I’ll share a little more about that one day,” let’s dive in and try to figure out what exactly it all means.

On paper, the Packers appear to have the most stable quarterback situation of any NFL team for the past two decades with Rodgers immediately taking the mantle from Brett Favre many years back. But, one thing Rodgers learned from Favre is that there always has to be drama every single spring. Rodgers has hinted at retirement multiple times, particularly leading into last season. 

With all of this in mind, do the lions in the tattoo have any sort of significance? Does it create the possibility that Rodgers may be considering a move south from frigid Green Bay to the tropical oasis that is Detroit? Is this a bold way to announce a trade request?

No. No it’s not. First of all, even with all of his skills Rodgers has made only one Super Bowl (the same number as Rex Grossman) at a functional franchise, why the hell would he want to go to a notoriously moribund operation? The lions likely represent some sort of dichotomy between good and evil or something. And there’s probably some “king of the jungle” type business throw in there as well.

Really it’s just joking about the lions that makes it fun to comment on his tattoo. All the other elements are just the general hodgepodge one often finds in pieces like this. There’s an ocean, which could be a nod to Rodgers’ birthplace in Ukiah, California. There’s a bunch of constellations, so I’m guessing there’s some astrology thrown into the mix. Although for the record Rodgers is a Sagittarius, not a Leo. We got an all-seeing eye in there, which I guess means that Rodgers is good at recognizing blitzes at the line of scrimmage, or something.

All in all, the tattoo is grand. Aaron Rodgers first tattoo is solid. This time when Rodgers did his own research he ended up making the right choice with Balazs Bercsenyi.