Aaron Rodgers feels bad for Brett Favre after learning about his Parkinson's diagnosis

Aaron Rodgers was in a joyful mood while talking about the performance of his 2-1 New York Jets during his weekly press conference on Wednesday.

But the mood changed when the topic shifted to the health of Brett Favre, who revealed Tuesday during a congressional hearing that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease .

Rodgers and Favre were teammates with the Green Bay Packers from 2005-2007. While their relationship was rocky early on after the Packers drafted Rodgers to be Favre's successor, they've since developed a close bond.

Rodgers said learning about Favre's Parkinson's diagnosis was "tough" but he also understands brain and neurological disorders can be an unfortunate consequence of playing football.

Favre said his doctors told him the number of concussions he suffered in his 20-year ironman-like career made him more susceptible to a disease like Parkinson's. Favre told TMZ that he received the diagnosis in January.

Favre previously noted that he had three or four known concussions, but he estimated in a 2018 interview he likely had hundreds or even thousands based on symptoms he had over the years .

"The older you get the mortality gets kind of thrown in our face a little bit more," Rodgers said Wednesday. "It’s actually more normal to hear about a death or a cancer diagnosis or a diagnosis like this. And it doesn’t desensitize it for me. I feel bad for him and (wife) Deanna."

DOUGHERTY: Former Packers quarterback Brett Favre paid a high price for being a football star

Rodgers has had three confirmed concussions during his career, including two in the 2010 season .

A 2020 study by the Family Medicine and Community Health concluded that having a single concussion increased the risk of developing Parkinson's by 57% and dementia by 72%.

"But it’s unfortunately part of our game," Rodgers said about brain injuries. "That’s part of the risk playing and we all in the back of our mind know that can be a reality at some point.

"We just kind of hope medicine at some point can catch up and either can make the symptoms easier or eradicate some of these issues that we have."

The Packers' current quarterback, Jordan Love, also addressed Favre's diagnosis on Wednesday, saying he's "praying for Brett."

Aaron Rodgers nears 60,000 passing yards

Rodgers enters Sunday's Week 4 game against the Denver Broncos approaching a milestone.

He's just 321 yards away from 60,000 passing yards. Only eight quarterbacks in NFL history have reached that number. Favre is fourth on the all-time list with 71,838 yards.

"It means I’ve played a long time," Rodgers said when asked about the significance of that mark. "I remember when I was a young player there was a lot of records Favre was getting. I think he got 421 touchdowns and passed (Dan) Marino at the time (for the all-time mark in 2007, a record that has since been passed). All the yard markers that he had, the consecutive games played. He used to always say it just means I’ve been around for a long time. I was like ‘it means a little more than that.’

"But I’m in that position now, that’s what it feels like. It feels like I've been playing a long time. Naturally, this would be part of the process. I’m thankful to still be playing and there’s milestones like this to hit. I’m thankful for all the guys who caught passes for me all the guys who blocked for me."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Aaron Rodgers feels bad for Brett Favre after learning about his Parkinson's diagnosis