“I Thought About Kobe Bryant”: Aaron Rodgers Looks To Follow the Black Mamba’s Road to Recovery After Devastating Injury

Kobe Bryant Superfan Aaron Rodgers Once Made the Front Page for His Basketball Heroics as a 9-Year-Old; "Free Throws are His Forte"

Aaron Rodgers suffered a devastating Achilles injury that took him out for the year, just one play into his Jets debut. Now, he’s looking to Kobe Bryant as he recovers. Kobe suffered a similar Achilles deep into his career in 2013. Bryant was 34 years old at the time, and Rodgers is 39 right now. At this age, the injury could certainly be career-ending, or at the very least career-altering. Kobe came back from his injury, but there was a big dropoff in his performance before the injury and after it.

Of course, recovery procedures have evolved since Kobe’s injury, and while football is an intensive sport, an Achilles injury in basketball is potentially much more harmful. Aaron Rodgers is committed to coming back and playing. Retirement has been up in the air for the past several years for Rodgers, but he still hasn’t walked away from the game. He knows that he has more in the tank, and this injury is simply a setback.

Aaron Rodgers References Kobe Bryant on the Pat McAfee Show

Rodgers came on the Pat McAfee show to speak about the injury, and instantly Rodgers brought up Kobe Bryant. Kobe’s injury was very significant at the time, and right away on Monday Night, Rodgers remembered Kobe and sought out his doctor to see what the next steps were.

To his surprise, he found out that Kobe had gone for surgery the very next day. Rodgers wants to accelerate his timeline too as he knows that each day he waits, he loses time to get back on the field as quickly as possible.

Rodgers also admitted that he knew the odds were against him. The Jets QB knows he’s old, but he’s ready to take on the challenge. “Definitely some odds stacked against me based on age,” he acknowledged. “But I like it. Stack all the odds up against me and see what happens.”

Clearly, the former MVP isn’t ready to give up when so many NFL analysts and fans have written him off. Rodgers has never backed away from a fight, and he won’t start now.

Rodgers Looks To Adopt the Mamba Mentality

Coming back from any injury isn’t easy, but having the right mindset goes a long way towards doing that. When Kobe injured his Achilles, he came back onto the court, shot his free throws, and then left the game.

Rodgers has the same fire under him that Kobe had. He wants to come back, and he wants to come back bad. He chose to leave Green Bay for New York this summer, and he wants to make sure he gives it his all to the team he chose.

Post Edited By: Ashish Priyadarshi
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About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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