On Thursday, Aaron Rodgers and the beat writers who cover the Jets met for an off-camera interview inside the team’s Florham Park training facility.
Before the 24-minute conversation, Rodgers commented on my “Masters of the Universe” T-shirt and the superstar quarterback expressed his love for both that ’80s classic cartoon along with the “G.I. Joe” series.
After we were done reminiscing about our childhoods, we got down to the business at hand. With this being the first time we have spoken to Rodgers since he tore his Achilles in Week 1 on Sept. 11, there was one question I had to ask him: Why? Why decide to try and return from an Achilles injury that is typically a season-ending injury?
Rodgers then looked at me in utter shock.
“Why?” Rodgers said with an incredulous stare. “Do you know my history? It’s never been a why try, it’s why not.”
I asked the question with a sense of knowing what Rodgers would say, but he’s absolutely correct. Why not try to attempt to come back from an Achilles injury quicker than any known professional player?
Rodgers lives and breathes football and that’s all he has known during his 40 years on Earth. That drive and determination got him to the University of California after beginning his college career at Butte Community College.
That same motivation also helped fuel him after he fell all the way to the 24th overall pick by the Green Bay Packers after he was snubbed by the San Francisco 49ers with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft (The Niners drafted Alex Smith). And that chip on his shoulder is likely the reason Rodgers has played in the league for 19 years at such a high level.
Rodgers has always bet on himself. Many naysayers have come out of the woodwork to criticize his possible return this week after the Jets opened his 21-day practice window. However, what does Rodgers have to lose at this point?
He is arguably the most talented quarterback that’s ever played the game. Rodgers has won a Super Bowl MVP and four regular-season NFL MVP awards. He also has more money in the bank than anyone could imagine.
So, what’s his motivation at this point? Showing people he can do this. Showing people that he can be the He-Man of his football universe.
“I’m competing against conventional rehab protocol,” Rodgers said. “But until someone breaks that protocol and shows you, you can do it a different way, the impossible stays the impossible.
“There’s been a lot of great players that had Achilles injuries, but there haven’t been many who have attacked it the same way. The majority of people, when they get an injury like this, they go to next season. So, there isn’t an impetus to push the rehab to come back.”
Rodgers sees the light at the end of the tunnel. If he were 25 and suffered an Achilles tear, conventional wisdom would say continue rehab and get ready for the 2024 season.
However, Rodgers is confronted with his football mortality because the NFL is a young man’s game and he is certainly no spring chicken. The clock is ticking and Rodgers knows it. He may have one or two seasons left in the NFL, and he wants to push it as much as possible.
The day after he tore his Achilles, a sad and frustrated Rodgers cried. That’s why Rodgers attacked his rehab like a madman trying to get back to practice and eventually on the field.
“Obviously, Sunday is out of the question,” Rodgers said. “But I’m going to push it next week to see how I feel and after Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and see how it responds.
“For a lot of the season, I was thinking the 14 week mark was legitimate to be feeling really good. That was, obviously, Washington Christmas Eve. But after some of the things that’s happened, I felt like as long as I was in a good spot with my rehab, maybe getting on the practice field was good because there was some talk about being on the designated to return after this week.”
“Anything is possible.”
Yes, anything is possible, which brings us back to this point and how he returned to practice 79 days after his Achilles surgery on Sept. 13. Even if Rodgers doesn’t play another down for the Jets, his return to the practice field should be considered a win.
Sure, he would be disappointed if the Jets don’t hold up their end of the bargain, finish the story, and qualify for the postseason. Right now, the Jets are 4-7, 15th in the AFC and on a four-game losing streak. But Rodgers has shown that the impossible can sometimes be possible.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Many people told Rodgers he shouldn’t or couldn’t return from an Achilles tear and come back the same season. But just the fact that there’s a possibility for him to return is mindboggling in itself.
Rodgers’ legacy has been written even if he doesn’t play another game in the NFL. But this return either this year or in 2024 could be the start of an entirely new story. A story in which Rodgers becomes the superhero who overcomes all the odds to triumph in the end.
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Antwan Staley: Aaron Rodgers has nothing to lose in attempt to come back and play this season - New York Daily News
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