A.J. Hawk knows a thing or two about Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

As the fifth overall selection of the 2006 NFL Draft, Hawk would spend the first nine seasons of his career in Green Bay. Not only did Hawk carve out a nice long career with the franchise, he also witnessed the transition from Brett Favre to Rodgers. Although Rodgers was drafted in 2005, it was not until 2008 that he took over the starting job.

The transition wasn't easy. It took a Brett Favre retirement and three seasons as a backup until Rodgers finally received his chance. Fast forward 15 years later with the Packers' selection of Jordan Love in the 2020 NFL Draft and it's hard to deny it — the parallels are uncanny.

Green Bay continues to deny that Love is replacing Rodgers anytime soon. But Hawk has a fair assessment of the ordeal — the drama isn't going away anytime soon.

Via Peter King of NBC Sports:

“It does make me wonder now what their relationship will be like,” Hawk said of Rodgers and LaFleur. “I think Aaron’s relationship with Jordan Love will be great. Aaron will be open with him. I think the frustrating part for him, and for the organization, will be this story will not go away after the first press conference for Aaron when the team finally is back together. It’ll keep coming up—not just this year. It probably doesn’t help that [Rodgers and LaFleur] probably won’t be in the same room for a while.”

The Packers continue to defend their selection, including most notably, general manager Brian Gutekunst. It's not crazy to think that Green Bay drafted Rodgers' potential successor in Love. But there's one major problem: Rodgers has gone on record as saying he wants to play deep into his 40's. The problem is, the veteran QB is just 36 years old.

That presents the same dilemma as 15 years prior, when an aging Favre had a hard time stepping aside for Rodgers. He also obviously had a hard time taking Rodgers under his wing for tutelage.

It remains to be seen if this mentor-pupil relationship is different from the one prior. But one thing is for certain — this topic is not going to disappear for the Packers.