New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers is out of a cast after he underwent season-ending surgery following his Achilles injury earlier this month, but he’s admittedly still feeling like “a big turd” during his rehab.
Rodgers joined "The Pat McAfee" show on ESPN on Friday to talk about his recovery from his Achilles injury — which happened just four plays into his debut with the New York Jets. He spoke to McAfee from a rehab facility in Southern California, where he said he's still wearing a walking boot and can't walk on his own.
"Trying to get out of the boot is kind of the next goal so I feel the strength to be able to stand up on my own," Rodgers said, via ESPN. "Then the boot comes off and then it kind of gets exciting. I think then you feel like you're not just a big turd laying around, everybody taking care of you. So that'll be nice."
Rodgers underwent surgery two days after he tore his Achilles in the Jets' season opener earlier this month. Naturally, as an Achilles injury is widely considered to be a season-ending setback, many thought that Rodgers would simply retire. As he's turning 40 years old in December, and he's already accomplished just about everything possible in the league, retirement would make sense.
Rodgers, however, quickly downplayed that talk. He doesn't sound ready to retire whatsoever, and even hinted that he could return in time for the playoffs this year. He even reportedly underwent a new innovative sort of surgery, too, which could speed up his rehab.
While he didn’t get into any timeline during his appearance on the show on Friday, and a playoff return would be remarkable, Rodgers did make one thing clear.
He wants to play football again before he calls it for good.
"I don't want to get caught into a timeline," he said, via ESPN. "I just want to get healthy, honestly, mentally and physically, honestly. But I'm going to do everything I can rehab-wise to put myself in a position to be ready to play football again at some point. And that's the goal.
"I mean, obviously, when this happened, there's a lot of thoughts about, 'That's it, cash it in, you're done.' I just don't feel like I am, so I'm going to put myself in position to be able to play again."
Rodgers has been away from the Jets since his injury. The Jets have since turned to backup Zach Wilson to take Rodgers’ place, though Wilson and the team struggled in their Week 2 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. They’ll host the New England Patriots next on Sunday.
Once Rodgers can walk on his own again, he said, he plans to return to the Jets’ facility and rejoin the team. That process, however, isn’t a quick one.
"It's not easy, but there's been some progressions with the rehab the last couple of days, so that kind of gets the hope meter kind of trending upward a little bit," he said, via ESPN. "The joy meter is trending up a little bit."
