Well, look at that. Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers might actually be closing in on coming back.
After not practicing on Wednesday, Rodgers participated on Thursday and Friday. Along the way, his head coach saw a guy who wasn’t recovering from a torn Achilles tendon.
“He looks normal to me,” Robert Saleh said, via Dennis Waszak Jr. of the Associated Press. “It’s unbelievable. Credit to him, especially in this day and age where a hangnail can affect a game week, but this dude is grinding to try to get himself back. It just shows how much he cares. I have an appreciation for him.”
If anything, Rodgers might be doing too much.
“He jumped up and made a catch today,” receiver Garrett Wilson said, via Waszak. “It’s kind of scary. I’m like, ‘Chill!’ That’s what I want to say, but he looks ahead of schedule, for sure.”
Rodgers has been ruled out for Sunday’s game at Miami. He could be in by next weekend. That was always the target, with the caveat that the Jets need to be 7-7 or 8-6 to make it worth the risk to put Rodgers on the field. They’ve apparently adjusted that minimum to 6-8, assuming the Jets can upset the Dolphins on Sunday.
The Jets would still be alive for the postseason at 6-8. They’d have the Commanders, Browns, and Patriots left. Finish 9-8 and emerge from the tiebreaker scrum with a spot on the playoff tree, and January would get a lot more interesting.
Either way, we’ll know by Wednesday whether there’s a chance to see Rodgers next Sunday. The window on his return to the full roster after returning to practice closes on Wednesday. He’ll either be activated at that point, or shut down until the offseason.
