Four-time NFLMVP QB Aaron Rodgers, a little over six months after having surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon, is expected to be back at the Athletic Health Jets Training Center for OTAs, HC Robert Saleh told reporters Monday morning in Orlando at the 2024 NFL Owners Meetings.
“As you guys know, OTAs has become a 7-on-7 camp,” Saleh said. “And that should mean he will be able to do all that stuff. But, as we get closer, and we are the next couple of weeks, we will communicate more with him.”
After being traded to the Jets last April, Rodgers sustained a torn Achilles tendon on just the fourth offensive snap of his Jets’ Week 1 game against the Bills at MetLife Stadium. He underwent surgery on Sept. 13, which was performed by D. Neal ElAttrache, and began to aggressively rehab with a goal of returning in mid-December.
The Jets opened Rodgers’21-day practice window in late November and activated him from Injured Reserve three weeks later. Any hope of Rodgers returning to the field ended when the Jets were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs in Week 15. Over those two weeks on the active roster, Rodgers practiced and gave the Green & White a glimpse of what could be in 2024.
“I think it was bittersweet,” Rodgers said immediately following the end of the season. “It was fun to be able to go out there and practice. I think anybody that watched practice, there was excitement, while also the “‘what if'” kind of hits you in the face pretty hard because obviously, if you saw what we were able to do and are going to be able to, you’d be excited too.”
After the end of the regular season, Rodgers returned to his home in California and has been rehabbing ever since.
“He is working his tail off in California,” Saleh said. “He has been communicating with us, not daily, but often. But knowing Aaron, he is on a mission to do a lot of the things he wanted to do last year, and he is not going to stop until he gets it done.”
Last offseason, Rodgers participated in nearly all of the workouts hoping to build chemistry and familiarity with his new team after 18 years in Green Bay. While the expectations are still high for the Green & White, Saleh believes this offseason will be unlike the last one.
“I am sure everything this year is going to be a little bit different because he is going through all the rehab stuff,” Saleh said. “Last year he wasn’t dealing with a torn Achilles, so I am sure there is a protocol for it. However, this is all probably a question for the doctors and Aaron.
“It is realistic to expect the best from him. Usually, those injuries are more in the s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁s position players and guys who actually more around a lot, not to say that he doesn’t more around or that is he is not mobile because he is plenty mobile, but he can put his feet in the ground and can have good footwork and a good base and throw a good football, then he will be fine.”
