Aaron Rodgers leaves door open to possible return in 2023 season: 'Anything's possible'
Aaron Rodgers seems to think it’s possible, even if available data and medical expertise says it’s a functional impossibility. But the injured New York Jets quarterback told Pat McAfee on Friday that he hasn’t ruled out the potential to try and play again during the 2023 season after tearing his Achilles tendon on Monday.
It would be a miraculous occurrence, should Rodgers finish what is normally a 8-month to year-long recovery and rehab in three months. And just finishing the rehab doesn’t equal being prepared to play football.
Still, he wasn’t ruling it out during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Friday. Co-host A.J. Hawk — a former Green Bay Packer teammate — pushed him on the possibility.
“I don’t feel like that’s fair to myself,” Rodgers said. “I just —”
“Is it a possibility?” Hawk asked.
“I think as Kevin Garnett said, anything’s possible,” Rodgers replied.
Either way, he is planning on making a triumphant return to the field at some point, be it this season or for 2024.
“I’ve known about this rehab. I’ve had friends who have done it and fellow competitors that I know who have done it, come back from it. I think what I’d like to say is give me the doubts. Give me the doubts. Give me the timetables. Give me all the things that you think can, should or will happen. Because all I need is that one little extra percent of inspiration. That’s all I need. So, give me your doubts, give me your prognostications. And then watch what I do,” Rodgers said.
With Rodgers out, the Jets have an unorthodox emergency QB
New York Jets wide receiver Randall Cobb will serve as the team’s backup, emergency quarterback for the team’s game Sunday versus the Dallas Cowboys.
Zach Wilson is the only active quarterback on the roster following Aaron Rodgers‘ Achilles injury on Monday Night Football.
Cobb played quarterback while at Kentucky, both as a traditional signal-caller and as a Wildcat quarterback. He started four games at quarterback as a freshman in 2008 before moving to wide receiver in 2009.
For his college career, he threw 122 pass attempts, completing 62 of them for 689 yards and five touchdowns. He rushed the ball 228 times for 1,313 yards and snagged 144 receptions for 1,017 yards.
Cobb is 1-for-4 for 10 yards passing in his professional career. His completed pass came during the 2017 NFL season with the Packers.
The Jets are going to continue starting Wilson for the foreseeable future but the team will sign another quarterback at some point to be his backup.