The Aaron Rodgers train has arrived from the “Achilles factory” in California, where for the past three months he’s been rehabbing the injury that sabotaged his first year as the Jets’ savior, to Florham Park.
Rodgers’ presence at the Jets’ facility represents one step closer to reaching the aggressive (if unrealistic) goal he set for himself since rupturing his left Achilles just four plays into the season, which is to play again in 2023.
Target dates have been floated from Rodgers for a triumphant and defiant return to the field — the Jets’ Dec. 17 game at Miami and their Christmas Eve home game against Washington the most popular on the speculation tree.
The Jets sit at 4-7 entering Sunday’s home game against the Falcons, and with 13 teams in the AFC having better records, the chances they’ll be in contention for a playoff berth by the time Rodgers is medically cleared to play (if he ever is) are less than slim.
That should make the chance Rodgers plays another game for the Jets this season less than “less than slim.’’
Rodgers, who turns 40 Saturday, has been on a very public crusade to beat the odds, dump on the doubters and present himself as a poster child for the miracle of medicine and the power of a positive mind by playing again this season.
It’s an admirable fight.
But he must be stopped.
Rodgers needs to be protected from himself and the Jets must protect their 2024 season. That means, barring an unlikely early-December winning streak that catapults the Jets into playoff contention, Rodgers — who admitted Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show” that the team’s postseason hopes would play a factor in his decision — needs to be shut down for ’23 so he can be stronger and healthier for ’24.
With the perception that Rodgers is calling all the shots inside the organization right down to what brand of coffee they serve and what ply of toilet paper the team is using in its facility, the question then becomes this: Is there anyone who has the power to tell him, “No”?
If head coach Robert Saleh can’t do it, then general manager Joe Douglas better do it. And if Douglas doesn’t have the power, then owner Woody Johnson must.
The Jets absolutely, positively, must protect Rodgers from himself and protect their 2024 season.
What if Rodgers is cleared to play for, say, Christmas Eve against the Commanders and the Jets are 5-9 and out of playoff contention, and he re-injures himself?
If that happens, it’s nothing short of organizational malpractice, because then 2024 is all-but shot and so, too, most likely is Rodgers’ career considering he’d be 41 and trying to come back from a second Achilles rupture.
There’s too much at stake here beginning with Saleh and Douglas, because Rodgers playing in 2024 very well may be their get-out-of-jail-free cards since they never got to see this thing through with him this year. The greatest likelihood is that Johnson is going to run it all back with the same cast next season.
The gives Saleh and Douglas ample motivation to do all they can to ensure Rodgers is healthy for ’24, which means shutting him down for ’23.
None of this should be construed as disrespect to Rodgers, who’s been admirably pushing himself to the limit to return in record time from an injury that traditionally erases an entire year from an athlete’s life.
“Nobody has ever seen anything like this,” Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley said. “As a friend and a teammate, I’m just happy to see him happy, see him smiling, see the pep in his step, which is crazy. But, when it comes to the football stuff, if that’s God’s will [for him to return this season] and that’s the way it’s going to work out, then I’ll definitely be happy with it.”
Mosley, a team captain and a soul of the Jets’ locker room, acknowledges the risk.
“It’s definitely there; it’s real,” Mosley said. “Any time you step on the football field, there’s a chance of injury, there’s a chance you’ll never be able to play this sport again. But, there’s a chance that we can all witness something that’s never been done before. It’s Aaron’s mind and body, and if he feels he’s in the right position to do something that’s he’s put his mind and heart to, then who’s to stop him?”
Robert Saleh.
Joe Douglas.
Woody Johnson.
If Rodgers is medically cleared to play this season and the Jets are out of playoff contention, the coach, GM and owner must do everything they can to prevent him from playing again in ’23 — even if they have to ship him off to another one of those darkness retreats.