Aaron Rodgers has had a number of ups and downs with his two brothers, Jordan and Luke, through the years.
The New York Jets quarterback was born in 1983 to his parents, Edward and Darla Rodgers, following his brother Luke, who the family had welcomed the previous year. Jordan was born five years later, in August 1988. Like his older brother, Jordan also grew up playing quarterback.
However, as the three Rodgers brothers got older, Aaron had a rift with Jordan and Luke. During his now-wife JoJo Fletcher’s season of The BacheloretteJordan explained that the NFL star was estranged from the family while he had chosen to “stay close” to his parents and Luke.
“It’s something we don’t really like to talk about a whole lot,” he told Fletcher during her hometown visit to meet his family. “It pains both of us like, not to have that relationship [with Aaron] — we miss our brother. I trust that God brings things full circle and that everything would just get back to us being a family.”
Since winning the show, Jordan went on to marry Fletcher in 2022, while Luke wed his wife, Aimee Rodgers, in April 2019. Jordan served as best man at Luke’s wedding, while it didn’t appear Aaron attended either of his brothers’ nuptials.
From their childhood in California to their heated family feud, here’s everything to know about Aaron Rodgers’ brothers Luke and Jordan Rodgers.
They grew up in California
Aaron and his brothers were born and raised in Chico, Calif., before moving to Ukiah, Calif. and Beaverton, Ore., in their childhood. In 1997, the family returned to Chico, where both Aaron and Jordan attended Pleasant Valley High School and were quarterbacks for the team.
Their dad, Edward, also played football in college at Chico State University, but his career was cut short due to his penchant for partying. His experience led him to raise his kids to avoid drinking, Aaron told Journal Times in 2005.
“Growing up, my dad told us that drinking in college kind of prevented him from becoming the player he wanted to be,” he said. “That kind of scared me into not doing any of that stuff.”
Jordan was also a quarterback
Like his older brother, Jordan was the starting quarterback for his high school team. He eventually became the starter at Butte College and played two seasons with the school before completing the rest of his collegiate football career at Vanderbilt University.
After the 2013 NFL draft, Jordan was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent but was released in July. Four months later, he joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneer’s practice squad and later had a one month stint with the Miami Dolphins before he left the NFL.
In 2016, Jordan became a college football analyst for the SEC on ESPN and hosts his own show, The WKNDwhich discusses “everything that happens” in the SEC.
Luke is a podcast host
Similar to Jordan, Luke is also the host of his own podcast, Blurry Creatures, alongside cohost Nate Henry. The show seeks to explain the story behind creatures people “can’t explain,” according to its Instagram bio.
In October 2024, Luke expanded the podcast to include a full video view, showing off his new studio in an Instagram video. “What a pleasure and wild ride it has been from episode one,” he wrote in the caption. “We’ve taken a lot of risks to talk about some things that most people would rather avoid.”
Jordan won The Bachelorette
Jordan joined season 12 of The Bachelorette in 2016, ultimately winning the show and proposing to his now-wife JoJo Fletcher. During his hometown date — in which Fletcher met his family — Jordan opened up publicly for the first time about the estrangement between himself and his brother.
At the dinner, Fletcher met Jordan’s parents and Luke, but Aaron and his girlfriend at the time, Olivia Munn, were not present. Their absence was marked by two empty chairs at the table.
“It’s something we don’t really like to talk about a whole lot,” he told Fletcher. “It pains both of us like, not to have that relationship [with Aaron] — we miss our brother. I trust that God brings things full circle and that everything would just get back to us being a family.”
While Aaron didn’t provide comment at the time, he opened up about his perspective on the situation in his 2024 documentary, Aaron Rodgers: Enigmaclaiming he was never invited to the dinner, before adding that he wouldn’t have attended even if he had been.
“I was quiet about it because I thought the best way to do it was don’t talk about it publicly,” Aaron said. “And what did they do? They go on a bulls— show and leave two empty chairs.”
He continued, “They all agreed, like, this was a good thing to do, to leave two empty chairs at a stupid dating show … But like, a dinner that was during the [NFL] season, that I was never asked to go to, not that I would’ve gone.”
They both have families of their own
Luke and his wife Aimee got engaged in July 2018 before marrying in April 2019. After two years of struggling with infertility, the couple welcomed their son, Jack Jordan Rodgers, in June 2022.
“Jack we choose your name because it means God is gracious,” Luke wrote on Instagram, announcing his son’s arrival. “Your middle name is for @jrodgers11 and we can only pray you grow up to be as generous, kind, loyal, (and tan) and an amazing man of character as your uncle Jordan.”
Two years later, the couple welcomed their second child, daughter Evie Jane Rodgers, on June 20, 2022, just days before her brother’s 2nd birthday.
“We are so thrilled to now be a family of four!! @aimrodgers is amazing,” Luke wrote on Instagram the day after her birth. “Jack is thrilled to be a big brother, God has been so incredibly gracious to us.”
Meanwhile, Jordan and Fletcher got married on May 14, 2022, six years after he proposed to her on the show.
Six months later, they revealed to Ok! that they were thinking about expanding their family.
“I loved our life together before as an engaged couple,” Fletcher said. “But there is this excitement now of talking about building a family together in the near future that is really special.”
They have an ongoing feud with Aaron
Aaron’s feud with his family was first made public on The Bachelorettebut he and his brothers have been vocal about their ups and downs since.
A source close to the athlete previously told PEOPLE that the brothers have had a lifelong rivalry and were “always trying to one-up each other,” until they came to a head when an argument led to a “blow-up.”
“Some things were said on both sides that were regrettable,” the source said. “Their parents got involved in the middle of it.”
In 2017, their dad revealed that Aaron hadn’t spoken to the family in three years, though he seemingly reconciled with his parents for his birthday in December 2018.
It appeared Aaron didn’t attend either of his brothers’ weddings as he wasn’t in any photos they posted from their big days, though Jordan said he would “absolutely” invite Aaron after The Bachelorette wrapped in 2016.
However, in 2022, it seemed like Jordan and Aaron were moving toward some sort of reconciliation, with a source close to the quarterback telling PEOPLE in January that the two have “started talking a little bit,” though “there’s still a division” between them.
“They’re just very different people with different outlooks,” the source said. “But they’re family and they know that.”
Two years later, Aaron said as much in his documentary, sharing that he was open to reconciliation in the future but that they were on “different steps” on the path there.
“People ask me, like, is there hope for a reconciliation? I say, ‘Yeah, of course, of course,’ “ Rodgers says. “I don’t want them to fail, to struggle, to have any strife or issues. I don’t wish any ill-will on them at all.”