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Aaron Rodgers doesn’t sound like someone who’ll be retiring anytime soon.
In an interview Friday on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers confirmed what an Instagram post he made earlier in the week suggested: he’ll progress through the rehab process for his torn left Achilles tendon and he intends to play for the Jets again in 2024.
He didn’t even rule out a return this postseason, though that would mark an unprecedented recovery and create a strange scenario for head coach Robert Saleh if Zach Wilson guides the Jets to the playoffs.
“Give me the doubts,” Rodgers said. “Give me the timetables. Give me all the things that you think can, should or will happen, because all I need is that one little extra percent of inspiration. That’s all I need.
“Give me your doubts. Give me your prognostications. And then watch what I do.”
The interview Friday, with Rodgers in Los Angeles, contained a different tone than six months ago.
On March 15 and on the same show, Rodgers announced his intention to play for the Jets and completely altered their short-term trajectory.
He made the bold decision to pledge loyalty to a team that didn’t even yet employ him.
This time, Rodgers opted for defiance in his first comments since Leonard Floyd sacked him on the fourth offensive snap of the Jets’ season.
The 39-year-old’s pregame interview Monday on ESPN included an answer about the power of manifestation — in the context of the Jets’ Super Bowl dreams — that took on an entirely different meaning four days later. Rams running back Cam Akers’ comeback from the same injury after just 173 days was unprecedented.
Were Rodgers to match that, it would take him to early March, around three weeks after Super Bowl LVIII.
Still, Rodgers, who will turn 40 on Dec. 2, said he’ll put together a “damn good rehab plan that’s gonna, I think, shock some people.”
He quoted former NBA star Kevin Garnett and said “anything’s possible” regarding a potential postseason return, even though that would contradict estimations for his recovery.
The Post’s Zach Braziller spoke to doctors who estimated Rodgers’ injury typically requires a timeline lasting between nine and 12 months.
“There’s a lot of different ideas about the overall length of the rehab,” Rodgers said. “I think what I’d like to say is just because somebody hasn’t ever done it a certain way, doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”
That motivation didn’t brighten the emotions Rodgers has endured throughout the week.
He felt sadness.
He felt anger.
He felt he had let everyone down.
Questions (why the Achilles? why him?) flooded his mind.
Just four plays into the Jets’ season, Rodgers sat on the ground and immediately knew what had happened.
He didn’t need an MRI exam.
He had popped his calf a couple of times in the past, and this pain exceeded that.
Instead of guiding the Jets against the Bills, Rodgers sat on a training table as players cycled through at halftime.
When longtime teammate Randall Cobb stopped by, Rodgers said he “kinda lost it.”
“It just hit me like a ton of bricks for 24 hours,” Rodgers said. “There was moments of just sobbing.”
Almost immediately, however, Rodgers started plotting his recovery. His mind jumped to Kobe Bryant, the late Lakers star who tore an Achilles in April 2013 and had surgery the next day.
Rodgers thought about Dr. Neal ElAttrache — the surgeon who helped Rodgers when he broke his collarbone — and texted from him the locker room.
“It turned into one of the toughest 24-hour stretches I’ve had in my life for sure,” Rodgers said. “A lot of sadness. A lot of tears. A lot of dark frustration and anger, all the gamut of emotions. But the sun rose the next day.”
By Wednesday, ElAttrache had performed the surgery. Rodgers kept compiling opinions about what worked and didn’t work in Achilles rehabs.
And back in Florham Park, the Jets remained steadfast in their support of Wilson as their starter.
Everything and everyone started moving forward.
The NFL offseason had culminated with an immense amount of hype surrounding the Jets, citing their talented defense but, really, centering around Rodgers.
He was the four-time MVP after all.
He experienced the type of Super Bowl emotions that have evaded the Jets since the days of Broadway Joe.
Rodgers’ injury didn’t destroy those hopes.
He even hinted there’s a possibility the dreams could still materialize.
It sounds absurd.
It could be remarkable. It defies the logic and insights and analysis for timetables attached to Achilles tears.
Don’t tell that to Rodgers, though.
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