One big question has hung over the New York Jets ever since their Week 1 win over the Buffalo Bills: Will Aaron Rodgers be able to play again this season? Rodgers, the future Hall of Fame inductee who joined the team over the offseason, barely was able to get going before he suffered a torn achilles on the team’s first offensive drive of the campaign.
It’s an injury that keeps guys sidelined for quite some time, but Rodgers claimed that he underwent a procedure that, essentially, was going to speed that timetable up to return this year. He made very clear that his intention was to try and play again, although the Jets’ struggles without him led to some caveats being put on his return being tied to their spot in the playoff race. And although Rodgers was recently cleared to return to practice, it turns out that it is actually extremely hard to return from achilles surgery as quickly as Rodgers would like, which he explained to Pat McAfee on Tuesday.
Aaron Rodgers finally puts to rest the notion of him attempting a comeback this season with Pat McAfee.
“I’m still 14 weeks tomorrow from my surgery and being medically cleared as 100% healed is just not realistic.” pic.twitter.com/BNjt83KF3I
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 19, 2023
Aaron Rodgers acknowledges he’s not 100%. Says he’d be pushing to play if he were 100%, but he’s not there yet. Will take another few weeks. via @PatMcAfeeShow #Jets
— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) December 19, 2023
#Jets QB Aaron Rodgers says on @PatMcAfeeShow that if he were 100%, he’d be pushing to come back. But he’s not there. “Being medically cleared as 100% healed is not realistic at 14 weeks.”
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 19, 2023
Jets QB Aaron Rodgers to @PatMcAfeeShow: “If I was 100% today, I’d definitely be pushing to play. But the fact is, I’m not. I’ve been working hard to get closer … I’m still 14 weeks tmrw from my surgery. And being medically cleared as 100% healed is not realistic at 14 weeks.”
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) December 19, 2023
The Jets have three more games left to play this season: a home finale against the Commanders before trips to Cleveland and New England. Perhaps Rodgers is, indeed, able to come back before then, but with the team sitting at 5-9 and officially being eliminated from the postseason, it stands to reason the next time we’ll see him take the field will be sometime during the 2024 campaign.