What’s it like to catch a TD from Rodgers and Favre?

RUVELL Martin‘s first NFL touchdown catch was born from a busted play.

Nineteen years ago, then-Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre was supposed to find wide receiver Greg Jennings as he cut across the middle, and Martin’s job was to run a deep dummy route and clear out the corner to open Jennings’ route underneath.

But the San Francisco 49ers corner didn’t bite, leaving Martin wide open down the left sideline. Jennings recognized the bust, and as he locked eyes with Favre, he hastily pointed to Martin streaking toward the end zone. Favre adjusted and let it fly 36 yards. Martin hauled it in for his first NFL score and the first points of Green Bay’s 30-19 Week 13 win against the 49ers in 2006.

“Martin got so wide open,” Favre said at the time. “But the thing was, there was Greg Jennings pointing to him being so wide open. … I’ve never had a guy running down the field pointing to a teammate who happened to be wide open.”

Fast-forward two years later.

Martin caught another touchdown in a far less significant moment for the Packers — the fourth quarter of a 51-29 Week 12 loss to the New Orleans Saints — but it was a consequential catch that granted him admission to an exclusive club. With that snag, Martin secured his lone career touchdown catch from Aaron Rodgers on a 4-yard pass.

“It was a nothing touchdown because we were down like three scores, at least at the time,” Rodgers said. “I love Ru, though. Ru was my guy on the look team for three years. … One of my all-time favorite teammates.”

Nearly two decades later, Martin is one of just six players to catch touchdown passes from Favre and Rodgers. And though he had a seven-year NFL career after spending time at Saginaw Valley State (Division II), NFL Europe and on the practice squad, Martin is the most unlikely member of that six-pack.

“It’s cool to understand and to know that that is the case,” Martin told ESPN. “I think now that I’m older, it does lose its luster a little bit. When you first get into the NFL, you’re kind of wide-eyed, and you’re like, ‘Man, all this stuff is cool.’ And then I think when you’re in it for the length of time that I was in it, and the perspective now that I have coming out of it, just kind of seems like I was just living my life and hanging out with my friends and doing some cool stuff.”

As Rodgers, who signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason and has 507 career passing touchdowns, closes in on surpassing Favre’s career mark of 508 — which ranks fourth among NFL’s all-time passing leaders — only Jennings, WR James Jones, WR Donald Driver, TE Donald Lee, RB Brandon Jackson and Martin know what it’s like to catch a scoring strike from the pair of Packers legends. And though the retired Favre’s touchdown total is set, Rodgers can push his even higher as he and the Steelers (1-0) host the Seattle Seahawks (0-1) in the home opener Sunday (1 PM and Fox).

“It’s just a longevity achievement,” Rodgers said of closing in on Favre’s mark. “… A lot of guys are a part of that. Some touchdowns you make exceptional plays. Some, the scheme is so good, … all you got to do is not screw it up, and then sometimes, you throw a short one to a guy and he goes 60 and it goes in the column the same.

“There’s been a lot of guys involved in that, including the guys blocking, the guys calling the plays. Every now and then, I made some special throws that led to touchdowns, but I’ve been playing for a long time.”

Joining the Packers as a scout team wide receiver in Rodgers’ rookie season in November 2005, Martin had a front-row seat to the end of one era in Favre’s 16-year tenure and the burgeoning start of the next with Rodgers’ ascension. And though he couldn’t have projected at the time that Rodgers would one day surpass Favre’s touchdown total, Martin saw Rodgers lay the groundwork for a path to greatness.

“He had this drive in him to prove that he was a worthy player, to prove all the critics wrong,” Martin said. “He had a lot of energy, excitement, enthusiasm, dedication, all that stuff because he had that big chip on his shoulder. … My drive was super high too, and that was our connection at that time. We just hit it off.”

During Martin’s three years in Green Bay, he was Rodgers’ primary target during practice and pregame warmups, and off the field, the then-anonymous backup quarterback and pass catcher hung out around town.

Martin remembers a determined Rodgers fighting to prove himself in even the most mundane circumstances. During pregame, Martin always stood beside Favre and across from Rodgers to catch Rodgers’ warmup passes before tossing the ball to Favre for the veteran quarterback to throw to his own receiver. While Favre put a light touch on the ball, Rodgers ripped his passes at Martin, leaving his hands raw and red after warmups.

“[People used to ask]’Did Brett break your fingers?’ I’m like, did Brett break my fingers? This guy, Aaron’s trying to kill people out here,” Martin said with a laugh. “I remember Brett commenting one day and was like, ‘I remember when I was 22 years old, I used to throw it like that, too.'” And I was just going, my goodness, ‘What is this guy doing? I’m standing 10 yards away from you. Do you need to just destroy my fingers right now?’ And Brett would just laugh.”

When the fan base started to panic after Favre’s retirement following the 2007 season, Martin knew what the Packers had in Rodgers, having spent hours on the scout team with him.

“As a player, I’d get asked, ‘So what do you think about Brett not being here?,'” Martin said. “And I remember just we were all sticking up for Aaron because it’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s sad to see Brett go, but we really felt like we had two starting NFL quarterbacks in whichever one out there was, you were going to be fine.’

“At that time, Aaron was kind of looking to prove himself and just wanting to get out on the field and have a shot. That was the Aaron that I knew, and I remember. It was just insane around Brett.”

Martin left Green Bay and signed with the Rams before the 2009 season. When he returned to Green Bay for a charity golf tournament in 2011, he was shocked to see how much things had changed. No longer anonymous after winning the Super Bowl, Rodgers was getting the same treatment Martin saw Favre get at the end of his career.

“We tried to have a conversation, and he seemed a little off,” Martin said. “And then, sure enough, people just started mobbing him. … [I told him]’You’re the new Brett.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, it is. That’s how I’m being treated now.’ I mean, my mind was blown because I’m only 27, 26, and the guy that I knew is just the guy that you can hang out with if you wanted to. Brett was the one that was different. Brett was the one that was being treated different. And now it’s like, ‘Oh, wow, my friend is now the same way.'”

Martin, who returned to Green Bay as an assistant for two seasons through a coaching fellowship from 2020 to 2021, finished his NFL career with five touchdown catches from Favre and only one from Rodgers, something Martin still can’t quite believe because he spent so much time developing chemistry with Rodgers. And when the two finally made their lone in-game connection, it happened late in the blowout loss to the Saints, dampening their celebration.

“He and I kind of caught eyes,” Martin said of the moment after the score. “We ran by each other, and we did a mini little jump up celebration because you can’t be excited when the touchdown doesn’t even really matter for anything, but for us it did.

“It was like, ‘Man, we finally got it. We finally did it.'”