Aaron Rodgers could make shock return this season after innovative Achilles surgery
Aaron Rodgers is hoping to make an unlikely injury comeback in time for this season’s NFL play-offs after undergoing “innovative” surgery.
The 39-year-old American football legend was previously ruled out for the entire season after tearing his Achilles tendon.
Rodgers was seriously injured in his first two minutes of action for the new New York Jets team.
The quarterback had played his entire veteran NFL career with the Green Bay Packers – winning the Super Bowl as MVP in 2010 – before moving to New Jersey this year.
It wasn’t the first dream outing for the Jets that he had hoped for, however, as it ended with Rodgers helping himself walk off the field after just a few moments of play, with video of the incident showing his tendon pop as he pivoted in an attempt to avoid a tackle.
The initial prediction was that the Jets would be without their star signing for the entire campaign, but they are now being given hope of a miraculous comeback.
According to NFL Network, Rodgers is currently recovering from an innovative surgery in Los Angeles that aims to “speed up the normal rehabilitation process” for a torn ankle ligament.
It is claimed Rodgers suffered a complete rupture of his Achilles tendon, but has now had a ‘rapid bridge’ installed to speed up his recovery.
The report adds that there is “no guarantee” that it will work as planned, but it has given his team hope that he could return to the field in around four months, meaning he could to be fit again in time for the January play-offs. .
It is also claimed that Rodgers could also receive platelet-rich plasma injections, similar to what Lakers star Kobe Bryant received in Germany for a knee injury in 2011.
The Jets would have to qualify for the playoffs first, and all that without their four-time NFL MVP, who arrived with great fanfare in July and to whom they will pay $75 million (£60 million) over the two coming years.
Rodgers turns 40 in December and he told The Pat McAfee Show that “the odds are against me” but said he would put “all his focus and dedication” into his comeback.
“There are a lot of different ideas about the total length of rehabilitation,” he said Friday.
“I think what I would like to say is that just because no one has ever done it a certain way doesn’t mean it’s not possible.
“I definitely have the odds against me based on my age, but I love it. Put the odds in your favor and see what happens.
“My whole goal and dedication is to gain as much information and add to what I already have in place as a really good rehab plan that I think will shock some people.”
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