Fortunately for Rodgers, he does have a lot on his side that those legend-fillers and other young passers did not.

Okay, so you’re moving on from the Brett Favre retirement news and have picked up the pieces in your life.

Now, how do you go about replacing a quarterback with 275 consecutive starts and every record in the book? What’s more, he was the most beloved player in the entire league at or near the top of his game in leading the upstart Green Bay Packers to a 14-4 record with a surprising appearance in the NFC title game.

This is the challenge fourth-year Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is beginning to face. Replacing a legend in the quarterback position is more than daunting. Just ask teams like Miami and Buffalo who have yet to replace their own quarterback legends a decade after losing them. Denver and Dallas are just beginning to move on from Elway and Aikman with promising young guys in Jay Cutler and Tony Romo. San Francisco moved on from Joe Montana with Steve Young, but besides a brief stint with Jeff Garcia Alabama has been miserable behind center since Montana has been gone.

Fortunately for Rodgers, he does have a lot on his side that those legend-fillers and other young passers did not.

Weapons: Most young quarterbacks fail because there’s not much around them. For Rodgers, that’s not the case, as all the perimeter players from the league’s third-ranked offense in 2007 will be at his disposal.

Amongst that group is a solid receiving core led by Donald Driver, budding superstar Greg Jennings, who hauled in 12 touchdowns last year, and a second-year guy in James Jones who showed promise. The rushing game, led by Ryan Grant, was as good as any in the second half of the year. Donald Lee is a solid young tight end. With the draft top-heavy in that position General Manager Ted Thompson might be wise to select one in the early rounds to form a formidable two tight-end set to along with the well-used five-wideout look.

Also keep in mind, head coach Mike McCarthy focused the offense around the short passing game making throws easier for the quarterback That allowed Green Bay to lead the league in yards after the catch by a wide margin. Plus, Rodgers will be backed by a very good special team and a defense returning all of its key parts to a unit that ranked sixth in scoring.

Coaching: McCarthy’s background lies in coaching quarterbacks, and that held true as he was able to rejuvenate Favre’s career a year ago. He’ll find ways to tailor game plans around his strengths. Having been underneath Favre for three years, Rodgers was able to study from one of the best while also learning McCarthy’s offensive structure.

A Left Tackle: Another reason young single-callers struggle is pressure from the blind side. While Chad Clifton is getting some tread on the tires, he’s still one of the best left tackles in football. Mark Tauscher on the right side can still play at a high level as well.

Dallas game: There hasn’t been a more hyped-up Packers regular season game in recent years than the Packers-Cowboys battle on Nov. 29, 2007. When Favre went down and the Packers trailed 27-10, Rodgers posted a 106.8 passer rating in leading the Packers to 17 points. On a big-time stage, Rodgers played brilliantly in one of his very few extended appearances in the regular season.

Confidence: More importantly than anything, Rodgers is brimming with confidence. He needs to tune out the nay-sayers and be his own quarterback, his own person. People could see a year ago that he was ready to play; the organization and his teammates are behind him. The expectations are as high as they’ve been since the mid-nineties, and while he’ll struggle at times, he needs to believe in himself and play through it. A-Rod, let the hair and Fu-Manchu grow out, relax and just play the game.

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