Aaron Rodgers’ Jets debut went from the best day of his life to the worst and led the future Hall of Famer to question whether he’d be able to even return to the field, he revealed in a recent podcast interview.
The Jets’ quarterback acknowledged for the first time the depths in which the Achilles injury he suffered four plays into his first year in the Big Apple impacted him.
“I was really thinking, ‘This is it. You don’t come back from this injury,’” Rodgers said during an appearance on the “I Can Fly” podcast, which was released Tuesday.
Rodgers called the night he ran out onto the field at MetLife Stadium with the American flag “one of the highest highs in my sporting career” and explained that the trade to the Jets had reinvigorated his love of football after spending all 18 years of his career in Green Bay.
“I had this incredible offseason experience in a new city, a new town, with new teammates, a new organization, an owner for the first time, and really falling back in love with the game that I first fell in love with when I was 5 years old,” Rodgers said. “It was absolutely beautiful and special and deep and rich and yummy, and just incredible.”
The Jets were four plays into their highly anticipated 2023 opener against the Bills on Sept. 11 when Rodgers went down with an Achilles injury and had to be carted off the field.
“And then, one of the most heartbreaking nights of my life, when I played four plays. Talk about an ego death,” he said.
Rodgers admitted that following the injury he initially leaned on a group of close friends to keep his spirits up.
He became emotional during the podcast as he described the conversation he had with friends.
“I said, ‘I need help. This is going to be really tough. I just need you all to be there for me on the tough days when I stop believing it’s possible,’ ” Rodgers explained.
“It’s hard to ask for help.”
the Jets’ home opener. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
After shifting his focus to his surgery and recovery, the concerns over never being able to play again faded away.
Rodgers attempted to return to the field late in the season, reaching a point where he had been practicing on a limited basis, but he ended his pursuit of a return after the Jets were eliminated from playoff contention.
Rodgers hopes to play for another two to four years, he said, and expressed his excitement over getting to play next season, calling football his “happy place.”
As far as the experience he went through in 2023, Rodgers tried to look back on it through a positive lens.
“As s–tty as it was — and it was the most heartbreaking thing that’s ever happened to me — all the miracles that happened along the way never would’ve happened,” he said.