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It turns out Aaron Rodgers may not be coming back in a few weeks.
The New York Jets quarterback turned heads Monday with a postgame interaction with Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James when he seemed to suggest he may return from his torn Achilles in the coming weeks:
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However, Rodgers addressed the video during Tuesday’s appearance on the Pat McAfee Show and said that the timeline is “not realistic” while also explaining he was throwing the football ahead of the game in part because it helped relieve stress.
The idea of Rodgers coming back seemed outlandish when he suffered the injury during a Week 1 win over the Buffalo Bills, but a potential return has picked up steam of late.
Rodgers himself has hinted at it, Jets general manager Joe Douglas has discussed it and even James asking about a return after Monday’s game lends credence to the idea it could happen.
Yet the quarterback was more cautious in his latest comments on Tuesday.
“I’m not healthy,” he said. “I’m just not ready. …It’s hard to even take my mind there at this point. … If this was just a really bad calf strain, I’d definitely be out there. … We’re in an eight-to-12-week window where the tendon is really healing well, and it’s also a little bit of a danger zone where we’ve got to be really careful.”
Rodgers could still return, but there was an element of caution in his comments Tuesday that hasn’t been there in previous discussions.
New York also has to stay in the playoff race if Rodgers is going to come back because it doesn’t make any sense to risk further injury for a team that is not contending. Monday’s loss to the Chargers dropped it to 4-4, which is 11th place in the AFC but still just one game behind the seventh-seeded Cincinnati Bengals.
The Jets face the Las Vegas Raiders, Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins in the next three games, and it isn’t a stretch to suggest they will have a losing record after that sequence. After all, the offense has managed a combined 19 total points over the last two weeks and looks like anything but a playoff-caliber group.
Zach Wilson is struggling under center, and there is only so much the strong New York defense can do given the circumstances.
Rodgers didn’t rule out a return down the line, but plenty of things have to fall into place if he is going to be back on the field this season.
