The inevitable became a depressing reality on Tuesday.
Aaron Rodgers, acquired to end the Jets’ 12-year playoff drought and make a run at the Super Bowl, suffered a ruptured left Achilles tendon in Monday night’s overtime victory over the Bills.
His season is over after four snaps with his new team, 24 years to the day that Vinny Testaverde suffered the same fate for a Jets team with similar sky-high expectations.
Coach Robert Saleh said the four-time MVP will require surgery, but a date has yet to be determined.
He hasn’t spoken yet to Rodgers about his future, now tenuous at the age of 39.
The Jets placed him on injured reserve Tuesday afternoon.
“I feel more for Aaron than anyone,” Saleh said during a Zoom call. “He’s invested so much into this organization, so much into this journey that he’s embarked on and wanting to be a part of what we’ve got going here and how much he’s invested not only in this organization but his teammates, himself, this fan base, this city. I have a lot of emotions for him. It’s really all about him.”
Zach Wilson, the Jets’ second-overall draft pick in 2021, will replace Rodgers.
It’s his show.
While the Jets will look to add another quarterback either through a trade or via free agency, it will be to serve as Wilson’s backup, not compete with him for the starting job.
He helped rally the Jets from a 10-point halftime deficit against the AFC East rival Bills in Monday’s 22-16 overtime victory.
Wilson was expected to be Rodgers’ backup this year and possibly next year, but that has obviously changed.
He struggled in two years as the starter, prompting the Jets to go out and trade for Rodgers.
Saleh said he believes Wilson has improved dramatically from where he was last year.
He pointed out that the Jets started out 5-2 last year — Wilson won his first four starts — until season-ending injuries to key offensive players such as Breece Hall and Alijah Vera-Tucker led to a poor finish.
“We are gonna look through some things, but I do want to make it very clear, Zach is our quarterback,” Saleh said of Wilson, who completed 14 of 21 passes for 140 yards with one touchdown and one interception Monday night. “We’re rolling with Zach and excited for him with this opportunity he’s going to get.”
The coach added: “Everything about him is just so much different than a year ago. It’s happening faster than I think anyone expected, obviously, under the circumstances, but he’s somebody that’s made a drastic improvement from a year ago.”
That remains to be seen.
What is clear is that Rodgers’ only role with this year’s team will now be as a cheerleader and an extra coach.
On the fourth play of the game on Monday, Rodgers went down as he tried to evade Bills defensive end Leonard Floyd.
Replays showed a pop in Rodgers’ calf as his Achilles ruptured. He initially got up and limped for a few steps.
He appeared to realize the severity of the injury and sat down on the field.
“As you guys can imagine, he’s down,” Saleh said of Rodgers’ emotions.
After the win, Saleh indicated that the Jets knew this diagnosis was coming, a stunning turn of events after an offseason full of so much hope and hype.
Rodgers seemed genuinely excited to be a Jet after spending 18 seasons with the Packers.
At his introductory press conference he joked about getting the franchise’s lonely Lombardi Trophy some company and immediately ingratiated himself to teammates with his outgoing personality, football intellect and leadership traits.
Rodgers reworked his contract, taking $35 million less guaranteed than he was owed, to free up salary-cap space for the Jets to add to the roster.
“[This] has felt like waking up inside of a dream, this whole experience,” Rodgers said in late August. “A beautiful dream. So many times you have a great dream and you wake up and you think, ‘I just want to get back into that, but I can’t quite get back into the dream.’ I’ve woken up inside of that dream and it’s been really, really special.”
That dream has become a nightmare for Rodgers and the Jets. But there is no waking up from it.
His Jets career may have lasted four plays, ending on the MetLife Stadium turf without completing a pass.
Now their season is in the hands of Wilson, the top draft pick who has yet to prove to be a capable quarterback in the NFL.
