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New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers lasted less than four minutes in his new NFL team’s season opener, struggling with what was later confirmed to be a torn tendon. Achilles after a highly publicized off-season trade.
Key points:
- Aaron Rodgers won a Super Bowl and was named NFL MVP four times in 18 seasons with Green Bay
- The Jets signed him to a two-year contract worth $75 million ($117 million).
- Rodgers went down on the fourth play of the first series of the first game of the season.
The 39-year-old came to New York after 18 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, during which he was named the NFL’s most valuable player four times and was named MVP when they won the Super Bowl in 2011.
The deal was $75 million ($117 million) over two seasons for one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.
In a highly anticipated season-opening game between two New York teams on the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Rodgers led his team carrying the American flag before a member of the NYPD sang the anthem national.
But after two handoffs and a flag on an incomplete pass, Rodgers fell on a tackle by Buffalo Bills defensive end Leonard Floyd on the fourth play of the Jets’ first drive.
Rodgers initially stood up before sitting back down on the grass, as trainers ran out to check on him.
A cart waited next to the team’s medical tent while Rodgers was examined.
He eventually got on the cart, but then got off and walked to the locker room, and the team ruled him out for the rest of the game.
Jets coach Robert Saleh said after the game that the team was “concerned about his Achilles tendon.”
“The MRI will probably confirm what we think is already going to happen,” he said.
“So we prayed tonight, but it’s not good.”
Rodgers’ former Green Bay teammate David Bakhtiari said on
“Can we stop this shit now?” he wrote.
He also accused the league of caring more about soccer players as stadiums have announced they will switch to natural grass ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be played in North America.
Rodgers’ deputy for the 2021 season, Kurt Benkert, echoed the sentiment, saying, “Football should be played on grass.”
“Holy crap. I can’t believe this,” NFL great Peyton Manning said in the comments.
Zach Wilson, the second overall pick in the 2021 draft, replaced Rodgers.
Wilson had previously struggled as a starter, prompting the trade for Rodgers.
The Jets eventually won the game in overtime, when Xavier Gipson scored a touchdown on a 65-yard punt return.
Charging
ABC/Reuters
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