Robert Saleh hasn’t spoken to Aaron Rodgers yet about the injured quarterback’s future beyond this season, but the Jets head coach certainly doesn’t sound like he expects the four-time MVP to retire following season-ending Achilles surgery.
“I haven’t gone down that road with him, but I’d be shocked if this is the way he’s gonna go out,” Saleh said before practice Wednesday in Florham Park.
“But at the same time for him, he’s working through a whole lot of things that he needs to deal with. That will be the last thing I talk to him about.”
Saleh added that there is no specific plan in place for the 39-year-old Rodgers’ surgery, but he believes the 10-time Pro Bowler will remain “connected” to the Jets and replacement quarterback Zach Wilson as they proceed without him this season.
“We’re limited on headsets, but if he wants a headset, he can have one,” Saleh said. “I think it’s very important. It’s important for him. I think for mental health and healing, I think it’s very important.
“But his presence, his words…I guess that he’s as much of a football coach as he is a player. Just having his presence, his thoughts, his words and his leadership, anybody would want that.”
Saleh also reiterated what he had said Tuesday about sticking with Wilson, the team’s 2021 first-round pick, with Tim Boyle elevated from the practice squad as his backup at least for Sunday’s game against the Cowboys.
“I’m still working through it all, but like I said, we’re not pressed right now because there’s two guys right now that are on the roster for game day,” Saleh said. “We’ve got a lot of faith in Zach. I think that people forget that he was 5-1 before the bye week [last season] and before half the offense was decimated with injuries from a year ago.”
Wilson replaced Rodgers after the fourth offensive play, and the Jets pulled out a 22-16 win in overtime behind four forced turnovers by the defense and a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown in OT by rookie Xavier Gipson.
The 24-year-old Wilson finished the game 14-for-21 for 140 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
“Like I said, Zach and Tim, those are our guys,” Saleh said. “They’ve been here from OTAs, all the nuance. Sometimes I look at it, like, it’s not ‘Madden’ in the sense that we can just plug and play.
“There’s a lot of meetings, a lot of practices, a lot of nuance, a lot of understanding of why things are the way they are that go into it. So just plugging and playing a quarterback, it’s gonna take time, whoever comes in this building, to figure out what we’ve done over the last six, seven months to create their identity in the system. So right now all of our attention is on Zach and Tim to get them ready to play football.”
Asked about his message to the locker room with Rodgers sidelined, Saleh replied: “I don’t know if there’s anything to say. It sounds cliché, but nobody cares. Nobody cares that you’ve lost a player, at the end of the day.
“Sunday’s coming, and we’ve gotta put our best foot forward and do everything we can to put ourselves in position to be successful. That’s the harsh part of the business, and I think guys understand that.”