Aaron Rodgers’ debut in the Big Apple ended after just four snaps due to a botched sack from Leonard Floyd, a linebacker for the Buffalo Bills. But the star QB kept astonishing fans and medical experts alike with his rapid recovery progress from the season-ending Achilles tear, which usually takes about nine months to heal. It also puzzled his teammate, Randall Cobb, who initially couldn’t believe that Rodgers was returning so soon.
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During his recent appearance on the ‘Bussin’ With The Boys’ podcast, Randall provided some perspective on how things unfolded from his end when Rodgers was sidelined. When asked how he felt when Rodgers’ comeback news started to surface around Thanksgiving, the free agent wide receiver expressed, “I was like, ‘No way!'”
Randall felt that if A-Rod did make a comeback so soon — 11 weeks after surgery to be exact — he wouldn’t be able to move his feet properly. Considering that Rodgers spent most of his recovery time in Los Angeles, away from the spotlight, Randall wasn’t quite aware if his QB teammate was on the cusp of a breakthrough recovery.
In his defense, Randall and the team only caught glimpses of Rodgers on Sundays, and not every Sunday at that. He remembered when the Raiders hosted the Jets on Nov 12, and Rodgers briefly met his teammates. However, these encounters were fleeting, with little discussion about Rodgers’ recovery progress, leaving Randall and others in the dark.
“But you gotta understand he (Aaron Rodgers) was gone the entire time. He went back to LA, and he was doing his rehab in LA,” Randall reminisced. “So, we would only see him on some Sundays; he would fly in for the game. Sometimes he would meet us, like he met us in Vegas for the game. So, we were seeing him bits and pieces, we didn’t know where he actually was.”
But Randall couldn’t have been more wrong. By the end of November, Rodgers was cleared for practice, and within the next few days, he was spotted sweating it out on the gridiron. So the question remains: Would Rodgers actually play and excel if the Jets were in playoff contention?
Randall Believes Rodgers Would Excel Upon His Return
While initial doubts hovered over the Jets’ roster, as soon as the four-time MVP made his return to practice, everyone was dumbfounded. Randall saw it too and wholeheartedly believes that Rodgers would have played if the team had won just a few more games and were in contention for the playoffs.
“But when he (Rodgers) comes back, and he is actually practicing, I think everyone was like, ‘Wait, hold on.’ If we could have won a couple more games — I really do believe if were in the contention at that point, he could have played,” Randall expressed.
Hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan were quite amazed at this prediction, with the latter even posing a question: “You really believe he could have played in a Wild Card game?” Randall had a simple response: “In a Wild Card game, without a doubt.”
Randall firmly believes that Rodgers would have played just as he had throughout the years, even recalling the time when the star QB played through his calf injury during the 2014 playoffs. Notably, the Packers won the Divisional Round that season, later falling short in the Conference title bout against the Seahawks.
That being said, the 2024 season is inching closer, and the Jets’ playoff drought still continues. The franchise that hasn’t won a Super Bowl since Moon Landing has a long way to go before meeting the expectations of its disappointed fans. It will be interesting to see if Rodgers can finally go all the way for a team that badly needs it.
