Rodgers Tears Achilles, Meaning Massive Impact on Trade Compensation
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles during his New York Jets debut on Monday night against the Buffalo Bills.
The devastating injury changes the Jets’ championship destiny, perhaps Rodgers’ career and the compensation coming to the Green Bay Packers from the April trade.
“Concerned with his Achilles … It’s not good,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said, a painful reality check in the moments following a thrilling overtime victory.
An MRI performed on Tuesday, which was a mere formality given the clear-cut nature of the injury and Saleh's postgame comments, confirmed the diagnosis.
“I hurt for Aaron and how much he’s invested in all of this. I’m still going to hold out hope but my heart’s with Aaron,” Saleh said after the game.
On his third dropback of a hyped showdown between Super Bowl contenders, Rodgers was sacked by former Chicago Bears nemesis Leonard Floyd. For a moment, it looked like just another sack as Rodgers got up and looked to the sideline. Then, he dropped to the ground. The training staff rushed onto the field and helped Rodgers off the field.
Not long thereafter, Rodgers was driven into the locker room for X-rays with a boot on his left foot.
A torn Achilles would end the 39-year-old's season, a crushing blow for the Jets and for Rodgers, who hoped a change of scenery would mean a change in his championship fortunes after winning one Super Bowl in 2010 but losing four NFC titles games in Green Bay.
Now, the macabre element from a Packers perspective. As part of April’s trade, the Packers acquired a second-round pick in this year’s draft, which they used on impressive tight end Luke Musgrave, and a second-round pick in the 2024 draft that would move to a first-round pick should Rodgers play 65 percent of the offensive snaps this year. Rodgers will fall about 650 snaps short of that threshold.
Fresh off Sunday’s resounding season-opening win over the Chicago Bears, Packers coach Matt LaFleur and his staff were set to spend a long Monday night at Lambeau Field getting ready for next week’s game at the Atlanta Falcons. The injury no doubt captured everyone's attention.
“I’m sure it’ll be on,” LaFleur said when asked if he planned to watch Rodgers and former Packers teammates Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, among others. “Usually, the Monday night game is on in the background, but I’m not usually paying a ton of attention to it. Certainly, the focus is on the Atlanta Falcons. Got a lot of work to do with them, a team that we haven’t played in four years.”
Left tackle David Bakhtiari, a close friend of Rodgers during their years in Green Bay, blamed the artificial-turf surface at MetLife Stadium.
The Jets’ offensive line was their obvious kryptonite heading into the season. Jets GM Joe Douglas had assembled a powerhouse roster around Rodgers. However, the line was a weakness that they failed to address. On what officially was the third snap of the game due to an earlier penalty, Floyd beat 38-year-old left tackle Duane Brown.
According to Pro Football Focus, Love dropped back to pass 30 times at Chicago. The offensive line allowed two pressures.
Rodgers dropped back to pass three times against Buffalo. He was pressured on all three and hit twice.
Rodgers was the last man out of the tunnel for pregame introductions. To commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he ran out of the tunnel with an American flag to thunderous applause. For Jets fans, Rodgers represented the great hope to win their first NFL championship since Joe Namath led New York to victory in Super Bowl III.
Rodgers made the 224th regular-season start of his illustrious career on Monday. He entered the game ranked ninth all-time with 59,055 passing yards and fifth with 475 touchdown passes. With a typical season, he would have roared well beyond 60,000 passing yards and 500 touchdown passes.
On the eve of Rodgers' big Jets debut, his successor in Green Bay, Jordan Love, threw three touchdown passes to topple the Bears.
“The shoes are never as big as you think they are. The mantle is never as heavy as you think it is,” Rodgers told Packer Central recently. “The crown is heavy of being the leader, but it’s not like living up to these expectations or whatever it might be around who I was or what I did. It’s all about him and what he’s doing and how he’s going to lead, and he’ll be just fine.”
More Green Bay Packers News
Jordan Love receives rave reviews
Three overreactions: LaFleur will never lose to Bears
