Jets QB Aaron Rodgers, on his weekly appearance Tuesday on "The Pat McAfee Show," said that he is not ready for competition as he continues to make steady progress in his recovery from the torn Achilles tendon he sustained in the season opener on Sept. 11.
"Well, I think it's always been first, am I healthy and then are we alive?," Rodgers about playing for the Jets this season. "So, there's a natural progression here to the rehab and that's going to involve actually getting back onto the field to start to do some things that are more football related. But again, we're not where I can make a decision on playing because health-wise, I'm improving steadily, but I'm not at an ability to play at this point."
It has been 11 weeks since his innovative operation. Since then, Rodgers has dedicated himself to rehabbing as quickly as he can.
"I think the next step is just getting back onto the field and doing some more like real football things," Rodgers said. "Being able to throw to my teammates and go through some individual part of practice I think will be kind of the next step to see what my lateral movement is like. Then after going through some of these more football related moves, how do I respond? How's my leg respond to that? How's my Achilles, my foot, my heel, my calf respond?"
Rodgers is back in New Jersey full-time as he continues to rehab after spending time in his native California. In a 10-day stretch on the West Coast before Thanksgiving Rodgers was able to progress to a jog, slowly increasing his speed.
"I was running on the AlterG [treadmill] and they have a lot of the same little gadgets and gizmos," he said. "So, it's all strengthening. Calf strengthening, foot strengthening, the jogging, the running, the walking, all that good stuff. Little bit of stuff on the field, just trying out some different things just to see how my foot feels in different types of shoes, it's good."
Rodgers said that he has been running above 70 percent of his body weight and over 8 miles an hour when on the AlterG treadmill. He could be on the practice field as soon as this week.
"I'm excited about tomorrow and hopefully getting back on the on the practice fields," he said.
