Will Aaron Rodgers retire? Jets QB must confront his football mortality after injury
This can’t be the way that Aaron Rodgers goes out.
Can it?
As the four-time NFL MVP processes the severity of his ruptured Achilles tendon, and the surgery followed by extensive rehab, Rodgers might also be forced to stare his football mortality in the face with a decision on whether to retire or return for a final act.
Remember, Rodgers spent four days during the offseason on a darkness retreat – isolated without light in a 300-square foot, semi-underground cabin in Oregon – to contemplate his football future and other elements of life.
He chose to come back for a 19th NFL season, which led to his trade to the New York Jets from the Green Bay Packers and the most hyped fresh start in the NFL in years. Now, he’s done for the season after four snaps. Logic suggests that after mulling retirement after last season, he could revisit the idea.
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Maybe there’s another retreat coming.
Then again, perhaps Rodgers, 39, has already made up his mind – and there’s no chance that he will quit and have the last image of him in an NFL uniform be him getting carted off to the locker room.
Rodgers is great for many reasons, including the cannon arm, high football IQ, magnetic leadership and, way up on the list, competitiveness. Guys like the sassy Rodgers are wired to go out on their own terms (see Tom Brady, who won a Super Bowl with the Bucs then over the next two years chased another ring) or exhaust every ounce of energy trying.
Besides, Rodgers was the toast of the Big Apple. He seemed to be having such a blast. Broadway. Courtside at the Knicks game. VIP treatment at concerts. The city embraced Rodgers, and undoubtedly the New York City football/celebrity community would still shower him with love.
Inside the Jets headquarters, many insiders contend, Rodgers had won over the place while injecting the hope and energy that the legends so often bring.
No, there’s nothing left to prove. At least not to anyone else. Rodgers has produced Hall of Fame credentials, including 475 career TD passes and more than 59,000 passing yards, so a bust in Canton is a lock. He has stood the test of time. When Rodgers arrived in the NFL in 2005, George W. Bush was President, and the quarterback was left hanging in the green room during the NFL draft on the very day that YouTube uploaded its first video.
He’s won the biggest prize with a Super Bowl triumph (although he lost three times with the Packers as the No. 1 seed in the playoffs). Only Peyton Manning has won more NFL MVP awards.
Yet until he shares his sentiments on the matter, the space to decide is his. Again (say the Cheeseheads).
Since Rodgers joined the Jets, he has maintained it was a multi-year commitment. Time will tell whether the sudden emergency changes that. But many of the pieces that are in place now for his understudy, Zach Wilson, to play with will still be in place next year.
So, it would seem natural that the competitor in Rodgers – whose Achilles injury follows the calf injury he nursed this summer – would desire to align himself with a championship-caliber defense, his pal and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and a bevy of skill-position weapons (hello, Garrett Wilson) to try it again.
In another sense, it just doesn’t seem right that the highlight of Rodgers’ debut was the act of running onto the field carrying an American flag as the crowd at MetLife Stadium roared. That was an awesome visual, for sure, but a few minutes later, the image of Rodgers trying to walk and then taking a seat on the turf superseded his grand entrance.
You couldn’t blame Rodgers, either, if he hangs it up. According to medical experts, the rehab following surgery for a torn Achilles is much more grueling, for a longer period of time, than for a torn ACL. Some estimate that the rehab timeline ranges from six to 12 months. And with that, it’s likely that he would lose a measure of his mobility.
Rodgers, having thrived for so long, has surely had his share of rehab periods. He’s had a fractured clavicle (2013 and 2017), fractured foot (2006), fractured pinky toe (2021), sprained MCL (2018), concussions and calf strains. But apparently nothing like this one.
Whether Rodgers, who will be 40 in December, wants to go through this particular rehab is obviously part of the equation. So, too, may be motivation for a comeback that proves he won’t go out like that.
