Why We May Never See Aaron Rodgers Play Football Again

The poor New York Jets. They just cannot get a break.

On September 11th, 2023. A nationally-televised Monday Night Football game between the New York Jets and the rival (and much hated) Buffalo Bills. This was one of the most anticipated games of the season, as all-time great quarterback Aaron Rodgers was playing in his first regular-season game with his new team, the Jets. He ran out to the field with the American flag in hand and got massive cheers from the crowd. Everything was going perfectly.

Until the 4th play for the NYJ offense.

On the 4th play for Aaron Rodgers as a New York Jet, he was sacked by Leonard Floyd. And he stayed down. The once rambunctious crowd was now dead silent, as many feared the worst at MetLife stadium, as well as the millions watching the game from their homes. Collectively, the NFL world held its breath. And then, on Tuesday, September 12th, 2023, the NFL world got the worst possible news that they could get: Aaron Rodgers had a torn Achilles tendon and would miss the entire rest of the season.

The Achilles tendon is a strong band of tissues that connects the calf muscles in your leg to your heel, as you can see in the picture below. This tendon is very, VERY important for running, walking, and jumping, something that all football players need, especially quarterbacks (even for the statues of the NFL quarterback world, like you Mac Jones). Injuries to the Achilles tendon can range from some mild injury that can take 3 weeks to heal, all the way to a full tear, which can take more than a year to heal.

And that's the issue with Aaron Rodgers' instance here. Not only is it a full tear of the Achilles tendon, which by itself would take a year (minimum) to heal, but the fact is that Aaron Rodgers is old. He's 39, and he isn't getting any younger (as evident by the multiple grey hairs in his beard). Even if it takes exactly one calendar year for his Achilles injury to heal, he'll be 40 at that time. And if he plays after the injury heals, there's no guarantee that he'll be the same player, aside from the usual rust that would take place after not playing for a year.

Now, had he been younger, the situation wouldn't be as bad. For example, all-time great cornerback Richard Sherman was 29 when he ruptured his Achilles tendon, and he went on to make a full recovery, and even made the Pro Bowl in 2019 and won the Comeback Player of the Year award, and was an integral part of the 2019-2020 San Francisco 49ers run to the Super Bowl. The key difference between Rodger's situation now and Sherman's injury in 2017 is that Sherman was a full 10 years younger.

Now, there's always hope for optimism. There's a chance that Rodgers will come back from his Achilles tear and continue his all-time great career with the Jets. And that's what I truly want for him. But realistically speaking, there is a very good chance he'll never play football again. Look, he's 39 and just suffered one of the most devastating injuries in all of pro sports that could end a 25-year-old's career, let alone a 39-year-old's storied career. At the end of the day, Rodgers will have to ask himself this question: Is all that work that's going to be needed to come back from the injury going to be worth it, going into what should be the last couple of years of his career? In my opinion, I don't think it's worth it. But that's for Aaron Rodgers to choose, not me.