Aaron Rodgers never made it back from his Week 1 Achilles tear, but his attempt to return inspired his New York Jets teammates.
The veteran quarterback was voted the winner of the Dennis Byrd Award, which is given to the Jets’ most inspirational player.
Just weeks after his Sept. 13 surgery, Rodgers was spotted on the field pregame throwing a football with teammates. The team opened his practice window in late November, just over two months after his operation. However, a few days after the Jets’ elimination from postseason contention Dec. 17, Rodgers declared he wasn’t ready to return.
“I think he’s sacrificed so much already for the organization and himself and his teammates, and he’s doing it again,” head coach Robert Saleh said. “I think it’s a testament to who he is as a human. Yeah, obviously, there’s a little bit of that drive where he wants to prove that it can be done faster than anyone’s ever done before. That’s OK. That is just part of his mental makeup.”
