The Jets’ fears for Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles injury were confirmed on Tuesday.
NFL Media reported that an MRI has confirmed Rodgers has suffered a torn Achilles tendon in his left leg. The injury ends Rodgers’ first season in New York just four snaps after it began.
The quarterback suffered the injury on his third dropback in Monday’s game against the Bills when edge rusher Leonard Floyd sacked him. Rodgers’ left leg appeared to get briefly stuck in the turf at MetLife Stadium on the play, causing the injury. Rodgers initially got up from the sack, but went back down, laying on the turf for a few moments before needing assistance to get back to the sideline.
[McKenna: With Aaron Rodgers injured, what do the Jets do now?]
After getting evaluated in the Jets’ blue medical tent, Rodgers was carted off the sideline before walking back to the locker room. He got an X-ray shortly after, which came back negative, but caused the Jets to fear that it was an Achilles-related injury.
Rodgers reportedly left the stadium during the game and didn’t speak with reporters following the Jets’ dramatic overtime win. Jets coach Robert Saleh wasn’t optimistic about the injury when he met with reporters following the game.
“Concerned with his Achilles,” Saleh said. “MRI’s probably going to confirm what we think is already going to happen with his Achilles, so prayers tonight. But, it’s not good.”
Aaron Rodgers out for season with possible Achilles tear
Entering the 2023 season, the Jets were one of the most hyped teams in the league because of Rodgers’ arrival via trade from the Packers. The team quickly became one of the betting favorites to win the AFC and the Super Bowl after they acquired the future Hall of Famer, seemingly solving the quarterback woes that have plagued the franchise for over a decade. Adding to the hype, the Jets were the team featured on the latest season of “Hard Knocks,” allowing fans to get a closer look at Rodgers as he became accustomed to his new team.
Even though the Jets walked away victorious from Monday’s game, the hype surrounding the team for the remainder of the 2023 season quickly died down as their odds to win the division, conference and Super Bowl dropped significantly on Tuesday. Zach Wilson, who the Jets selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and started for much of the last two seasons, was the Jets’ quarterback for the remainder of Monday’s game, completing 14 of 21 passes for 140 yards, one touchdown and an interception in the win.
While Wilson’s struggles seemed to hold the team back the last two seasons and caused the Jets to trade for Rodgers, Saleh confirmed that the third-year quarterback will be New York’s starting quarterback moving forward.
“Yeah, he’ll be the guy,” Saleh said when asked if Wilson would be the starting quarterback.
Will Zach Wilson be able to STEP UP for the Jets without Aaron Rodgers?
It’s “unlikely” that the Jets will add a veteran quarterback, NFL Media reported Tuesday.
In terms of long-term ramifications from the injury, the conditional 2024 second-round pick the Jets sent the Packers will almost certainly not convey into a first-round pick. Rodgers needed to play at least 65 percent of the Jets’ offensive snaps in 2023 in order for the pick to change from a second-round selection to a first-round selection.
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Rodgers, who turns 40 in December, restructured his contract over the summer, giving him a three-year, $112.5 million deal which includes $75 million in guaranteed money for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Prior to his trade to the Jets, Rodgers said that he felt he was “90 percent retired” in February, but with the contract restructure, he anticipated playing in New York for the foreseeable future.
“This is going to be a few-years partnership,” Rodgers told reporters in August.
It’s unclear if those plans will change following Monday’s injury.
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