Aaron Rodgers obtained the information on Tuesday that was broadly feared since he departed the Jets’ Monday evening sport towards the Buffalo Payments: He had torn his left Achilles’ tendon and can miss the season, the league stated in a social media publish.
After an extended and glittering profession because the Inexperienced Bay Packers quarterback, Rodgers had come to the Jets at age 39 within the hopes of pushing the group to a Tremendous Bowl, which the franchise had not received because the days of Joe Namath. Already stocked with an elite protection and younger stars at key positions, Rodgers’s expertise and management had been considered the ultimate puzzle piece to a group that might contend for a championship.
However the star quarterback was sacked simply three and a half minutes into his first sport at MetLife Stadium on Tuesday. Although he stood for a second after being felled by Payments defensive finish Leonard Floyd, he quickly sat down on the turf. He was helped to the sideline then carted off to the locker room and TV cameras confirmed Rodgers carrying a protecting boot.
On Tuesday, the league stated in a post on X, previously referred to as Twitter: “Not the best way any of us wished it to go, however we all know the dedication you’ve made to this group will proceed to impression us transferring ahead.”
After confirming that Rodgers would wish surgical procedure to restore the damage, Coach Robert Saleh spent a lot of a information convention Tuesday to reiterate his confidence within the group and in quarterback Zach Wilson, 24.
“I don’t know why individuals are making an attempt to place an obituary on our group title,” Saleh stated. He added: “We now have all the religion on this planet in Zach and one of the best half about Zach is that all of us do consider that he’s leap years forward of the place he was a 12 months in the past.”
For now, the Jets flip to Wilson, the backup quarterback who helped the group rally to a 22-16 win in Monday’s sport towards the Payments. Rodgers and Wilson are buddies, and with the veteran’s arrival, Wilson had embraced his position as Rodgers’s understudy to enhance downside areas in his mechanics and approach. However Saleh declined to supply specifics on how the offensive technique would change below Wilson, saying it might differ relying on the sport plan.
Saleh additionally stated the group would elevate Tim Boyle from the apply group and can look to signal a free agent to the quarterback room.
The Jets have had a star-crossed historical past since Namath led them to an upset Tremendous Bowl victory within the 1968 season. Since then, the group has struggled to search out one other franchise quarterback able to main it again to a title sport, utilizing first-round draft picks on Richard Todd in 1976, Ken O’Brien in 1983, Chad Pennington in 2000, Mark Sanchez in 2009, Sam Darnold in 2018, and Zach Wilson in 2021.
The Jets had additionally beforehand tried luring an M.V.P. quarterback from the Packers, buying and selling for Brett Favre in 2007. These acquisitions every fell wanting remodeling the Jets offense into title contenders.
There was hope Rodgers might change that lengthy historical past of inefficacy when was acquired in an April commerce in alternate for draft picks. His lengthy profession has put him within the high 10 of many passing classes, he has received 4 Most Priceless Participant Awards, and within the 2010 season he took the Packers to their solely Tremendous Bowl victory of this century.
Rodgers’s arrival had stoked the hopes of Jets followers and his teammates. “Bringing a man like him into the constructing simply excites everybody typically as a result of the résumé he has, the character he’s, the man that he’s, that brings a spark to all people,” stated defensive deal with Quinnen Williams, at coaching camp in July.
The match appeared good: Rodgers threw himself into the lifetime of town, turning up on the Tony Awards, Knicks and Rangers video games, the U.S. Open, and a Taylor Swift live performance at MetLife.
In Rodgers’s absence, expectations for the Jets are actually, as in so many different years, severely diminished.
Santul Nerkar contributed reporting.