NFL superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending torn left Achilles tendon in his New York Jets debut, the league announced Tuesday.
An MRI exam Tuesday morning showed the 39-year-old, four-time NFL Most Valuable Player suffered a complete tendon tear when he was sacked by Buffalo’s Leonard Floyd after only four plays in Monday’s 22-16 home victory over the Bills.
“Not the way any of us wanted it to go, but we know the commitment you’ve made to this team will continue to impact us moving forward,” the Jets posted on social media. “Get well soon @AaronRodgers12.”
Rodgers, who spent 18 seasons with the Green Bay Packers before being traded to the Jets in April, went down awkwardly about four minutes into the game and was helped off the field with what was then called a left ankle injury, the iconic signal caller limping into the locker room with a walking boot on his left foot.
Jets coach Robert Saleh said after the game the team feared Rodgers had suffered a torn Achilles but would wait for the MRI exam to confirm the extent of the injury.
With Rodgers turning 40 in December, there was concern that one of the most prolific passers in NFL history might have played his final contest.
Rodgers attempting to make the Jets a contender and build a legacy away from Green Bay had become the biggest story of the NFL off-season.
The Jets obtained Rodgers because they saw a top quarterback as the key missing piece to contending for a title.
Instead, the Jets are likely to be led by the quarterback that Rodgers was brought in to replace, Zach Wilson, who struggled to an 8-14 mark as a starter in two seasons.
Saleh said the Jets will turn to Wilson, who knows the team’s offensive schemes, but also bring in another quarterback.
Wilson steps into a huge challenge. The Jets next play Sunday at Dallas against a Cowboys’ squad that opened by beating the New York Giants 40-0, then play host to New England and reigning champion Kansas City the following two weeks.
Oddsmakers at Ceasars Sportsbook dropped the Jets’ chances of winning the Super Bowl from 16-1 to 35-1 and other betting services made similar moves.
Green Bay is owed a second-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft for the Rodgers deal, but the Jets would have had to send a first-round pick had Rodgers played in 65 per cent of New York’s snaps this season.
Rodgers’ injury was more heartbreak for long-suffering Jets supporters.
The team won its only Super Bowl in 1969 and owns the longest playoff drought in major North American sports, last making a post-season appearance in 2010.
It was not the first time the Jets lost a top quarterback in the opener of a much-anticipated campaign.
In 1999, a year after the Jets were one win shy of the Super Bowl, they saw Vinny Testaverde exit with a season-ending Achilles tendon rupture in the opener and went 8-8.
Artificial turf risk
Packers offensive left tackle David Bakhtiari, a teammate of Rodgers for the previous 10 seasons, ripped the NFL for using artificial turf when the 2026 World Cup will be staged on natural grass in the same venue.
“Congrats @nfl. How many more players have to get hurt on ARTIFICIAL TURF??!” he posted on X. “You care more about soccer players than us. You plan to remove all artificial turf for the World Cup coming up. So clearly it’s feasible. I’m sick of this…Do better!”
As the Jets pondered trades or free agent signings, TV commentators and Jets fans suggested the team contact 46-year-old Tom Brady, the NFL’s all-time leader in completions, pass yardage and thrown throws.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback posted a video clip of himself playing basketball Tuesday saying he was “in the lab” and “trying to keep up with the kids these days.”
Brady ended a 40-day retirement last year before a final season at Tampa Bay before announcing his retirement “for good” this past February.
