Aaron Rodgers voted by teammates as New York Jets’ most inspirational player

Following a remarkably quick recovery from an Achilles tear in Week 1, Aaron Rodgers was voted as the Jets’ most inspirational player. Though the four-time league MVP wasn’t able to get back on to the field after he suffered the injury four snaps into the season, his season-long push to become available gave his teammates a boost.

Rodgers received his medical clearance to return to the practice field in early December. He advocated for the most aggressive rehab strategy possible with his doctors and trainers and the Jets were able to put him on the active roster with three games remaining so that he could continue practicing. While back at practice, Rodgers has been able to lead the scout team against his defense and he plans to return to the Jets for next season, if not longer.

Even if New York had overcome the quarterback’s injury to post a winning record, it’s very possible that the team would have still voted for Rodgers as most inspirational. But alas, with a 6-10 record and a backup QB crisis plaguing them, the veteran’s recovery was the brightest part of the Jets’ year.

Comeback comes up short as Jets eliminated from playoff contention

As badly as Rodgers wanted to return for his teammates, once the Dolphins eliminated the Jets from playoff contention, it didn’t make sense for the 40-year-old to risk re-injury.

“We talked about this the entire time, about the difference between stretching and stressing,” Rodgers said on the Pat McAfee Show last week. “You got to allow that Achilles to heal up completely before you’re stretching it. But there’s, you know, again, there’s a lot of different ways to attack this rehab.

“I tried to get on my feet quickly and kind of cut a lot of protocols in half, just to see if I could do it a different way. And I wanted to push it for the first two months, as hard as I could and get to that eight week mark and see where I was at and then adjust accordingly the rehab schedule after that.

“So like at eight weeks, I felt really really good. I was able to start jogging on the ultra G as far as I could… I wanted to you know to get back.”

Quincy Williams earns Jets’ MVP vote

With Rodgers taking home the team’s Most Inspirational award, the Jets voted linebacker Quincy Williams as the MVP for the 2023 season. The former third-round pick out of Murray State posted 131 total tackles through 16 games this season. He also had two sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception for the Jets defense.

Williams signed a three-year contract extension in the offseason worth $18 million. He played two seasons for the Jaguars before moving to New York.