Jets HC Robert Saleh says Aaron Rodgers is 'on a mission' to return this season

New York Jets fans entered the 2023 season with plenty of hope behind quarterback Aaron Rodgers. However, an early Achilles injury all but dashed everyone’s hopes. Since then, head coach Robert Saleh has steadied the ship, helping the Jets to get to 3-3.

Along with that .500 record without Rodgers, rumors that he might even be able to return from that injury this season have hope alive among Jets fans. Saleh has noticed the effort that Rodgers has put in to return from his injury.

“Aaron was in our facility on Saturday,” coach Robert Saleh said. “I was talking to him. I was like, ‘So what’s the deal? You gonna go up to the box tomorrow? Watch from the box?’ He goes, ‘No, I want be on the field.’ I was like, ‘What about your ankle?’ He goes, ‘I’m fine.’ I was like, ‘K, whatever you want, buddy.’” 

The injury itself is a torn Achilles that required surgery. It happened in the first drive of his season and almost certainly should have definitively ended Rodgers’ 2023 campaign.

“He is on a mission. I don’t put anything past him. I’ve heard he’s absolutely dominating rehab and he really wants to get back this year,” Saleh said. “That’s why getting wins like this and staying in it and staying in the hunt, giving him that opportunity to fulfill his mission, is so vital.”

At the start of October, Aaron Rodgers opened up about his surgery on the Pat McAfee Show. There, he shared how his surgery is looking to help him recover quicker than normal.

“The type of surgery that he’d been doing now for a little bit and then whatever protocols were out there just not adhering to those,” Rodgers said. “Being as smart as possible and not trying to stretch the Achilles, but stressing the Achilles in a way that allows me to start doing movement quicker and to speed up whatever timeline kind of has been the standard for this type of injury.”

Aaron Rodgers seen walking, throwing the football

Recovering from an Achilles injury can be an incredibly long and difficult process. However, to this point, Aaron Rodgers has made it seem relatively easy. First, he was seen walking without crutches. That came just three weeks after he had surgery to repair his torn ACL.

Then, on Sunday, Rodgers was seen throwing the ball on the field ahead of New York’s win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

.@AaronRodgers12 out here throwing the football pregame.

Incredible. 💚 pic.twitter.com/IphWfh8yWR

— NFL (@NFL) October 15, 2023

It seems impossible that Aaron Rodgers could return from his Achilles injury this season. At the same time, what he’s accomplished already is remarkable.