The Jets worst fears were realized on Tuesday morning.
Aaron Rodgers will miss the rest of the season after rupturing his Achilles just four plays into his Jets career. An MRI on Tuesday morning confirmed the worst-case scenario for the 39-year-old quarterback.
“He’s out for the year,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said at his Tuesday afternoon press conference. “He needs surgery.”
The Jets placed the future Hall of Famer on injured reserve on Tuesday afternoon.
The injury happened on Gang Green’s opening drive against the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football when veteran left tackle Duane Brown tried to cut Bills edge rusher Leonard Floyd. But Floyd avoided Brown, which allowed him easy access to Rodgers.
It appeared the play in which Rodgers suffered the devastating season-ending injury was designed for him to throw it on a three-step drop. Wide receiver Garrett Wilson was open across the middle, but Rodgers held on to the football and took the sack.
“It sucks, man,” Brown said on Monday night. “I’ve got all the respect and love for Aaron.”
At first, it appeared Rodgers was OK as he stood up after the sack. But he quickly fell back down to the ground as trainers and Saleh came out to the field to check up on the four-time NFL MVP.
Rodgers was then escorted to the medical tent to be looked at. He was later taken to MetLife Stadium’s X-ray room by cart and was later seen in a walking boot after the Jets ruled him out for the remainder of the game.
To say Rodgers’ injury is a devastating blow to the Jets is an understatement. After acquiring Rodgers in a trade from the Packers in April, many thought Gang Green would end their 12-season playoff drought and contend for a Super Bowl championship. The Jets were the offseason media darling after acquiring Rodgers. That continued this summer as the Jets were the featured team on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” training camp reality show.
Now those prospects seem bleak as Gang Green will turn back to Zach Wilson, who the franchise selected No. 2 overall in the 2021 draft.
Saleh said the outlook among his team hasn’t changed just because Rodgers tore his Achilles on Monday night.
“I don’t know why people are trying to put an obituary under our team name,” Saleh said. “Aaron is an unbelievable piece to this whole thing and we love him, but there are 52 other guys in the locker room plus the 16 practice squad guys that believe we can do a hell of a lot of good things here.”
The Packers dealt Rodgers to the Jets as the two teams exchanged first-round picks. Green Bay also received a second-round pick, a sixth-round pick, and a conditional 2024 second-round pick that would have become a first-rounder if Rodgers played 65% of the snaps in 2023.
With Rodgers out for the season, it is fair to wonder if his Hall of Fame career is over as well. It usually takes players about six to nine months before they return to all activities after an Achilles tear, such as running or jumping. Rodgers, who will be 40 in December, will face a long rehab process.
Before being traded to the Jets, Rodgers said he was about 90% sure he was going to retire before going on a darkness retreat and deciding he would return for the 2023 season.
“He’s down,” Saleh said about Rodgers’ demeanor. “I will let him answer those questions as I did not get into the future of what he’s expecting or what he’s thinking. I think that’s a conversation left for another day.
“As you can imagine with everything he’s invested and it lasting four plays, he’s a little disappointed.”
It has been an up-and-down career for Wilson after he was initially pegged as the future of the Jets franchise. However, he was benched multiple times last year, including during the Jets’ 19-3 loss to the Jaguars when he threw for just 92 yards and an interception. Jets fans at MetLife Stadium booed Wilson off the field as he was yanked for Chris Streveler. He didn’t start in the team’s final two games of the 2022 season.
Throughout the preseason, the Jets said they were getting back to basics with Wilson’s game as he learned a brand new offense in Nathaniel Hackett’s system as they also worked on the 24-year-old’s mechanics. Now we will see how much Wilson has improved.
“From a mental standpoint, he’s so much different than this time a year ago,” Saleh said about Wilson. “He’s in a great frame of mind, he’s loving football, he’s loving the process he’s going through, he has a lot of confidence. The little things that we saw in college that he was struggling with a year ago are not the same struggles that he had.
“He’s fixed a lot of things, a lot of things. Is it happening faster than anyone expected, obviously under the circumstances, but he’s somebody that’s made a drastic improvement from a year ago.”
Monday night was a good start for Wilson as he helped the Jets defeat the Bills 22-16, completing 14 of 21 passes for 140 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Saleh said Wilson would be the Jets starting quarterback if Rodgers was out for the season, but the team will look for a veteran QB to add behind Wilson. Tim Boyle is the only other quarterback on the Jets roster, but he’s on the team’s practice squad.
“We are going to look at everything, you’re going at veterans, you’re going to look at young guys, but this is Zach’s team,” Saleh said. “We are rolling with Zach.”
