Following the New York Jets‘ loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night, injured quarterback Aaron Rodgers told Chargers safety Derwin James that he would be back in a few weeks.
However, during his weekly appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, Rodgers explained that he was joking and also didn’t know how the ESPN microphones picked up the conversation.
“I didn’t realize that was going to get caught there. That was said a little tongue in cheek there,” said Rodgers.” It’d be nice to be able to be back in a couple weeks. That’s probably not anywhere near a realistic timeline. I said it smiling, joking. He was talking about how he’s excited for me to get back on the field at some point, I joked it would be a few weeks. Obviously going to be more than a couple weeks.”
Rodgers tore his Achilles on the Jets’ first offensive series of Week 1. Typically, that is an injury that will sideline a player until the following season. It’s unprecedented for someone to make a return within a few months. However, there has been plenty of speculation that Rodgers could try to make his way back this season, and not even the Jets themselves have squashed it. The fact that Rodgers got off crutches very quickly and was seen throwing the football around in October only added more fuel to the fire.
Still, it seems hard to imagine that Rodgers would seriously retake the field in 2023, and given how poor New York’s offensive line is this year, it certainly isn’t the best idea.
The Jets acquired Rodgers in a blockbuster trade with the Green Bay Packers back in the spring, hoping that the future Hall-of-Famer would be the final piece they needed to win a Super Bowl.
Going into the season, New York definitely resembled a contender on paper. Obviously, Rodgers’ injury changed everything, as it pressed struggling young signal-caller Zach Wilson into a starting role.
The Jets have managed to go 4-4 in Aaron Rodgers’ absence, most recently suffering a humiliating 27-6 loss in the aforementioned game to Los Angeles.
New York will head on the road to battle the Las Vegas Raiders next Sunday.
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