After missing all but four snaps of his first season in a Jets uniform, Aaron Rodgers is set to return to the field in 2024. Last year, Rodgers debuted in front of his home fans. This year, he'll return to the field in front of his hometown fans.
Rodgers and the Jets open the 2024 season with a cross-country trip to the Bay Area to face the 49ers, runners-up in Super Bowl 58.
Whenever Rodgers faces the 49ers, his upbringing and Bay Area roots return to the surface. As a fan of the franchise throughout his childhood, Rodgers thought San Francisco would select him No. 1 overall in the 2005 NFL Draft, but he instead fell to Green Bay.
With the 40-year-old Rodgers now in the AFC, this could be his final trip to the Bay Area but his ties home remain strong. Here is everything to know about Rodgers' hometown and upbringing.
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Where is Aaron Rodgers from?
Rodgers was born in Chico, Calif., a city in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California.
Rodgers and his family moved several times, living in Ukiah, Calif. and Beaverton, Ore. before moving back to Chico in 1997. Rodgers starred for Chico's Pleasant Valley High School before beginning his college career at the junior college level at nearby Butte College.
After one season at Butte, Rodgers transferred to the University of California, strengthening his Northern California roots by making his next stop in Berkeley, Calif.
For reference, Chico and Ukiah are around three hours north of the 49ers' home stadium, while Berkeley is around an hour away.
While the distance between cities in Northern California may seem sprawling, Rodgers' fandom of the 49ers makes sense given the franchise's standing as the nearest NFL team and its excellence during Rodgers' formative years.
If Week 1 of the NFL season is Rodgers' final NFL trip to the Bay Area, it will certainly be a notable one.