Presence in the pocket is a necessity to be a successful quarterback in the NFL. Being able to manipulate the pocket and buy time is what separates the good quarterbacks from the average quarterbacks. 

It is no secret that Aaron Rodgers is very good in the pocket and is able to manipulate and move the pocket and use his legs to extend plays. It is part of what makes him great. For the Green Bay Packers offense to succeed, this is vital. How does he fair in terms of time in the pocket compared to other great quarterbacks in the league right now? The table below shows the average time a passer has to before he throws the ball, gets sacked, or crosses the line of scrimmage for five of the best quarterbacks in the league over the last four years.

There are a couple things that really stand out in that table. Of the things that stand out, first and foremost is that looking at the last three full seasons that Aaron Rodgers has played (taking out 2013 due to him missing a large portion of the season with a broken collarbone) the time Aaron Rodgers has had to throw has only fluctuated by 20 milliseconds over those three years. That's 1/15th the time it takes the human eye to blink. Remarkable.

Comparing Rodgers' time to throw over the last four seasons to the other four quarterbacks on the list you notice that in those three full seasons Rodgers played he has had a longer to throw than any of those four players. Part of that is due to the offensive line, but a large part is also due to Rodgers' pocket presence.

The GIF below gives an example of that pocket presence and of the offensive line doing a good job of keeping blockers away from Rodgers with Rodgers moving around within the pocket to give himself more time and space.

Rodgers goes into his drop and the pocket moves back on him. To counter this he then moves backwards, over, and forward again into the newly formed pocket. This buys him roughly 3.2 seconds of more time and he keeps his feet set to throw the entire time. It is a great example of him working in sync with his offensive line. The result of the extra bought time was a defensive holding penalty on third down and a free shot at the endzone. It's not something that shows up in the stats but that is a big-time play when you want to win games.

It certainly helps that not only can Rodgers buy time inside the pocket and extend plays outside the pocket, he has a ridiculous arm in terms of strength and accuracy whether his feet are set or not. Only Geno Smith at 4.28 seconds took longer on average to get sacked than Aaron Rodgers last year (3.97 seconds). While Rodgers isn't running with blocks of cement strapped to his feet like Peyton would, he's not the running quarterback that Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick, or Cam Newton are and yet he can buy time with the best of them. I think no play shows off Aaron's ability to not only buy time, but make a ridiculous throw better than the Davante Adams' touchdown that was called back on a holding penalty in Chicago last season.

I don't think anything needs to be said about that play, it's ridiculous. That may have been the best throw he-or anyone in the league-made all season or in any season for that matter. Just like in the GIF above against New England, Rodgers buys 3.2 seconds of more time after he feels the initial pressure. There must be some internal clock around that time for him to make a decision. In the Chicago play, instead of being able to keep his feet square with his shoulders while he moves around in the pocket, he is scrambling for his life. He still manages to drop an absurd pass perfectly over the defense and into the running arms of Adams that covers over 40 yards in the air while he is off the ground and getting hit while throwing, the man is ridiculous. 

Looking at the time it takes for Rodgers, Brady, Peyton, Romo, and Roethlisberger to throw the ball, Rodgers once again shows incredible consistency in the last three full seasons he has played. This time with only a 30 millisecond disparity between the three seasons. This is matched by Brady from 2012-2014 but no other of these quarterbacks come close. Unlike with the average time to throw, Rodgers doesn't hold onto the ball longer than all of these quarterbacks on pass attempts. In each season since 2012 Romo has taken more time to throw than Rodgers and in 2011 Roethlisberger held onto the ball before pass attempts longer than Rodgers as well. Manning and Brady on the other hand like to get the ball out quick and are heavily built on rhythm with their receivers. Brady isn't going to be buying time outside the pocket much, but he's still good at moving within the pocket like Rodgers does in the GIF versus New England. Manning especially likes to get the ball out quick and his 2.22 seconds from snap to pass attempt and only 2.24 seconds in time to throw last season are quite impressive. He doesn't give the pass rush much of a chance to get to him at all. Due in large part to how quickly they get the ball out, Manning and Brady were sacked less than anyone in the NFL last season and combined were only sacked 36 times. 

The consistency in average time to throw and average time until the pass attempt for Rodgers over his last three full seasons is really impressive though. I don't think that kind of consistency and familiarity with the offense can be underplayed. He knows the offense and is able to run it at the same high level each and every season with a consistency that is unmatched by anyone in the NFL.

On plays where Rodgers was in the pocket for 2.5 seconds or less last season he had the third highest QB Rating in the NFL at 109.6. Only Tony Romo (113.6) and Russell Wilson (113.2) had higher QB Ratings in that scenario. When he was in the pocket for more than 2.6 seconds, Rodgers had the highest QB Rating in the NFL at 115.7. That is a very impressive thing to do. Only four quarterbacks in the NFL had higher QB Ratings after being in the pocket for 2.6 seconds or more than they did when being in the pocket for 2.5 seconds or less. Those quarterbacks were Rodgers, Roethlisberger, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Brian Hoyer. Rodgers was the only one of those four with a QB Rating over 100 in both scenarios. Only three quarterbacks in the entire league had QB Ratings over 100 when they were in the pocket for more than 2.6 seconds (they all also start with a R: Romo, Rodgers, and Roethlisberger).

Rodgers is a master of his craft and the consistency and timing he shows each season is truly impressive. While he may hold onto the ball a little too long sometimes, his ability to buy time and manipulate the pocket can't be beat. There is no person I'd rather have in Green Bay throwing rockets in my pocket than Aaron Rodgers.