Everybody: it’s full-stop on the Aaron Rodgers comeback.
The 40-year-old quarterback for the New York Jets told Pat McAfee on the appropriately-named “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday that he would have came back if the Jets would have been in the playoffs, but since the team was eliminated from playoff contention last week, he’s made his decision.
“If I was 100 percent today, I’d be definitely pushing to play,” Rodgers said. “But the fact is, I’m not.”
That’s no fun for the rest of us, who would have loved to have seen one of the best ever spin the ball this season in the AFC playoffs. But Rodgers went down on the first series of the season opener at home against the Buffalo Bills, a torn Achilles, and then had surgery on Sept. 13.
The fact that he even rehabbed successfully enough to even be in consideration to come back in the same season is practically a medical miracle.
The Jets had to activate Rodgers today (Wednesday) for him to officially come off of injured reserve. If not, he’ll spend the final three weeks of the season on IR. And there’s really no incentive for them to do so, other than for him to continue practicing with the team.
And then there’s this: the fear of re-injury.
“There’s always a fear about rerupture if you’re going too fast,” he said Tuesday. “But this allows me to – I’m not going to slow my rehab down. I’m going to keep attacking it every single day, but now, without a timetable to come back, obviously, we can be as smart as we need to be.”
Of course, Rodgers was acquired by the Jets through a trade from Green Bay in April after spending well over a decade there, drafted by the Packers, following Brett Favre, and winning a Super Bowl.
The great news for Jets fans, and for anyone who enjoys watching Rodgers, is that he has no plans, apparently, of calling it quits in the offseason.
“I feel like this year is kind of a lost year now that I’ve only played a couple snaps and wasn’t able to go out there and prove what I’m capable of and see what we’re capable of as a team,” he said.
“I feel like I can play more years and I can be effective into my 40s, which is crazy. I thought that I’d probably be sitting on the couch somewhere at 40, but now I want to be a starter at 40. I want to be a starter at 41. I want to see what I can get out of this body.”
And if you’re a disgruntled Jets fan that wants the franchise to say goodbye to coach Robert Saleh, you might be out of luck. Rodgers also endorsed Saleh and General Manager Joe Douglas.
“I believe in the leadership that we have here,” Rodgers said. “I believe in our guys. I think it’s not a situation where we have to rebuild. We need to reload a little bit, and there’ll be some tough decisions for sure, but I like the pieces that we have in place.”
For the record, Rodgers has completed 65 percent of his passes in his career for just a shade under 60,000 yards (59,055), 475 touchdowns, 105 interceptions, has been sacked 531 times, and has a career quarterback rating of 103.6, in 231 games played.
For the Jets, he officially is 0-for-1 in pass attempts.
