Aaron Rodgers, who insisted Tuesday that he remains ahead of schedule recovering from a torn Achilles, backtracked a bit from his exchange with Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. following the Jets’ loss Monday.
Rodgers’ answer to James’ question about when he planned to return — “give me a few weeks” — came with a “little tongue in cheek” tone, Rodgers said Tuesday.
The 39-year-old quarterback, out since the opener, didn’t realize cameras would catch that line.
“It’d be nice to be able to get back in a couple weeks,” Rodgers said Tuesday during his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “That’s probably not anywhere near a realistic timeline. … It’s more of a phrase that didn’t have a specific timetable.”
So in his first public comments since the embrace with James and his lengthy pregame throwing session that featured a 58-yard toss, Rodgers pumped the brakes.
Returning in a “few fortnights” — which, at its literal meaning, would be six weeks — might be more realistic, Rodgers said, and that would stretch his possible timeline to the Jets’ Week 16 game against the Commanders on Dec. 24.
Plenty of hurdles still exist, too. The pregame throws were a “stress reliever” that helped Rodgers feel normal, and while he went through drop-back motions and added some crossover movement, that’s just a small sample of what he needs to test before returning to practice and opening his 21-day window to get activated from injured reserve.
“If this were just a real bad calf strain, I’d definitely be out there,” Rodgers said. “It wouldn’t be a question.”
The Jets’ loss to the Chargers dropped them to 4-4 ahead of a difficult three-game stretch featuring games against the Bills and Dolphins after Sunday night’s game against the Raiders.
Rodgers reiterated that Gang Green’s positioning in the postseason race will be a factor in his return and head coach Robert Saleh said he’s “working really hard to get back here,” but Rodgers cautioned that the end-of-season push toward snapping a 12-year playoff drought reflects just a “very small part of the process.”
The offense didn’t look promising again under Zach Wilson.
The Jets didn’t score a touchdown.
Their strongest drives stalled and turned into field goals.
Even Rodgers, who watched from the sideline with a headset, acknowledged Gang Green needed to play better offensively.
But the Jets’ desperation for an answer at quarterback doesn’t sound like a scenario that’d expedite his return.
Rodgers admitted that he needs to make sure he can still protect himself, too.
“There’s a lot that has to happen,” Rodgers said. “Not saying it can’t get accelerated, but there’s still a lot of things I gotta do before we can even talking about getting on the field.”
Coach Robert Saleh said the Jets were still waiting on injury evaluations but appeared to have left the Chargers game in good shape “for the most part.”