By now you're familiar with the story of Aaron Rodgers, the New York Jets, and the torn achilles tendon that turned the 2023 NFL season upside-down. Just four plays into his first season with the Jets, after nearly two decades with the Green Bay Packers, the then 39-year-old Rodgers went down with one of the most devastating injuries you could conceive of. Despite flirting with the idea of coming back just months later, Rodgers missed the rest of 2023 season and has since been gearing up for his long-awaited return to the gridiron.
While playing in the 35th annual American Century Championship, a celebrity golf tournament that has been held in Lake Tahoe each year since its inception, Rodgers found some time to speak with NBC Sports about how his body is feeling, and how he's approaching his return to the field, which will come on July 24th, when the Jets hold their first practice of the season.
“My Achilles feels good, you know, I felt really good at the end of last year,” Aaron Rodgers said in an interview with NBC Sports, per Josh Alper. “There’s always that kind of plateau part. It’s just about getting back into it. I felt good all spring. Had a beautiful trip to Egypt. This is like the last marker. Summer’s over on Sunday. Walking up on 18 is like super bittersweet, but it’s fun to be out.”
Aaron Rodgers is currently in the middle of the pack among the competitors in the American Century Championship, and while that's certainly nothing to scoff at in a field that includes past champions such as Tony Romo, Mark Mulder, Jack Wagner and Mardy Fish, middle of the pack is a place that Jets fans have rightfully grown tired of.
Can Aaron Rodgers lead the New York Jets to the promised land?
The New York Jets haven't been to a Super Bowl since iconic quarterback Joe Namath famously guaranteed a victory over the Baltimore Colts ahead of the big game in 1969, and since then, they've made appearances in the AFC Championship Game just four times (1982, 1998, 2009 and 2010). But for a second, let's forget about a Super Bowl, or even an AFC Championship Game appearance. Just getting to the postseason would be a tremendous accomplishment for Aaron Rodgers and the Jets.
13 seasons have come and gone since the Jets made the Playoffs. As things stand right now, it's the longest postseason drought in both the NFL and all of American professional sports, and the longest that the Jets have had in the history of their franchise. The only year in that span in which the Jets finished with a winning record was in 2015, when a Week 17 loss to the Buffalo Bills knocked the Jets out of postseason contention despite a 10-6 record.
Aaron Rodgers led the Green Bay Packers to the NFL Playoffs in 11 of his fifteen seasons as the team's starting quarterback, and with a couple of intriguing weapons in Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall, along with one of the NFL's top defenses — New York ranked 12th in scoring, 8th in turnovers forced, and 3rd in yards allowed last season — there's no reason that the Jets can't end their postseason skid this year, as long as the Aaron Rodgers who will be taking the field is close to the same guy we've grown accustomed to.
And yes, until Rodgers steps on the field again, that's still up for debate.
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