For the New York Jets, a year of resurgence and stepping back into playoff conversations were cut short after a season ending injury on opening night. An injury that usually can take closer to a year to make a full recovery from, some are speculating that this player is seeking a return to the field yet this season.
New York Jets Qb Rehab To This Point
Aaron Rodgers is shattering any expectations that we would have for a 40 year old quarterback looking to make a recovery from an achilles tear. Just weeks after his surgery, he could be seen walking around without a boot! If you didn’t know, you would never have guessed that anything had happened, based on his walking stride!
Before the New York Jets versus the Giants game, he was throwing the ball, looking comfortable in his motions.
On the Pat McAfee show he mentioned that he was getting some reps in at flight school. Similar to a Tom Cruise movie, it is an opportunity, usually for practice players and reserves to hone their skills, as they are fighting for a game day roster spot.
This morning, head coach Robert Saleh relayed that Rodgers had participated at practice in limited capacity. Most notably, he took snaps under center, and threw the ball on the move off of bootleg. These are notable progressions for Rodgers, as they are movements that are testing his achilles in different ways.
He pushed it a little bit yesterday…He looks normal to me… Credit to him, especially in this day and age where a hangnail can affect a game week. But this dude is grinding to try to get himself back. It just shows how much he cares, and I have an appreciation for him.
Participation in such non contact drills show that he does have his full range of motion, and feels good about testing the strength of the tendon on this stage of his recovery. Most importantly it looks like he has overcome the biggest hurdle when overcoming an injury. The mental barrier of be willing to risk making an injury worse, or that you are stressing a part of your body too soon can be hard for some to overcome.
Even though this was never a specific concern for Rodgers, what is apparent is that he is willing to push the limits to risk another potential aggravation or tear, without any fear from his latest injury. The next step would likely be some contact drills and 11 on 11 before being able to hope to be cleared.
New York Jets QB Mentality Toward His Injury
Rodgers is known as an independent thinker, who is seen as having a contentious relationship with conventional health science. As someone who is willing to challenge pre-conceived notions of thought, Rodgers is looking to apply this approach to his achilles recovery.
So far he is definitely looking ahead of schedule. He underwent a surgery that he described as newer and more on the experimental side for athletes. Knowing that his age plays an important factor, Rodgers wanted to give himself the best chance to make a full recovery, regardless of when his actual return to play date ends up being.
Regardless of what you think of Rodgers, given his recent involvement in practice with the New York Jets, it would not be surprising if this so called ‘bridge gap’ surgery ends up becoming the norm for professional football players to repair a torn achilles.
New York Jets Playoff Push Playing A Factor?
Rodgers has made it clear that his priority is to be medically clear first. Once cleared, then he’ll evaluate his return with the staff, based on the New York Jets position to get into the playoffs.
With this New York Jets defense, they will be in every game remaining on their schedule. To actually make the playoffs they would need a lot of other games to also fall their way, but one thing is for certain.
Whether this season, or the start of 2024, Aaron Rodgers will play quarterback for the New York Jets sometime soon.