Photograph: Gary A Vasquez/USA Today Sports
Want to hear something kooky? Aaron Rodgers still has not officially ditched the idea of playing for the New York Jets this season. Teammates spotted him on Monday at the Jets’ complex in Florham Park getting treatment on the left achilles tendon that he blew out less than three months ago, a mere four plays into his 19th NFL season.
Rodgers told Pat McAfee on his ESPN radio show Tuesday that two factors would drive his decision to return in 2023: “It’s [my] health, first,” Rodgers said, and, “Are we alive, second?” as in, would the Jets be in contention for a playoff berth when he was ready to play in a game. A return is unlikely – but not out of the question, either.
The Jets (4-7) have lost four games in a row to plummet out of postseason contention, two games behind the Indianapolis Colts, who hang on to the final AFC wildcard spot. Robert Saleh, the Jets’ head coach, has already announced that Tim Boyle, the 29-year-old journeyman, will again start at quarterback on Sunday against Atlanta.
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Boyle replaced Zach Wilson, whom the Jets took with the second choice in the 2021 draft – but was so lousy in his first two seasons that the Jets acquired the 39-year-old Rodgers in a trade with the Green Bay Packers. Wilson (let alone Boyle) was not supposed to play quarterback for the Jets this season. This was to be Rodgers’s job. His team.
Rodgers is in the first year of a three-year, $112.5m contract, so the Jets did not just pick him up for a retirement tour. The loss of Rodgers was so catastrophic to the Jets’ 2023 plans that Saleh and Nathaniel Hackett, the decidedly unpopular offensive coordinator, are expected to return in 2024 for what would pretty much be regarded as a mulligan.
It would be astonishing if Rodgers were to return this year, given that NFL players who rupture their achilles tendons need between nine and 12…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/aaron-rodgers-could-come-back-100036826.html
Author : The Guardian
Publish date : 2023-11-29 10:00:36
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