For the last few weeks football fans have been captivated by the possibility of seeing the New York Jets star make an early return to the field after suffering a severe injury on the first day of the season. Sadly, that won’t be the case.
On Sunday night, the New York Jets saw their hopes of a postseason trip ended by a 30-0 blanking from the Miami Dolphins and with that, the curtain came down on what was meant to be a Super Bowl-contending campaign for a team that made the biggest move of the offseason: A blockbuster trade for four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers.
As we all know, the star quarterback tore his Achilles just minutes into his debut for the team back in Week 1, and the Jets have been reeling ever since.
Rodgers for his part, maintained a positive attitude throughout and to the surprise of many even spoke openly about the idea of returning to the field before the season was through.
Of course, that was with the idea that the team would make it to the playoffs. Now that it hasn’t, Rodgers has admitted that he won’t be returning until next season.
Speaking during an interview with Pat McAfee on Tuesday, the 40-year-old disclosed that he’s been practicing since the end of November, however, he understands that he’s not fully fit just yet. “If I was 100% today, I’d definitely be pushing to play, but the fact is, I’m not,” Rodgers said.
“I’m still 14 weeks from my surgery. And being medically cleared as 100% healed is not realistic at 14 weeks.”
To be fair, no. If we go back to what the former Packers star said initially, he was banking on the Jets being able to make the playoffs. Indeed, returning before the end of the regular season was always going to be a stretch.
“I think the whole time, it’s been hoping that we’re still in [the playoff race], because it was unrealistic to think that I’d be 100% medically cleared at any point in the regular season,” Rodgers said.
“I do feel like that in the next three to four weeks that it would be possible to get to 100%, but obviously, not there.”
At this point, the Jets’ have three more games to play before the season ends and the time for soul-searching begins. On the other hand, Rodgers did have some good news.
