New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers made his weekly appearance Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show” — now on ESPN — to reveal he will not be standing on the sideline during games over fear a player could crash into him and reaggravate the injury.
Rodgers, 39, has been away from the team since suffering his season-ending Achilles tear, but head coach Robert Saleh hopes he can be back in the building by next week. The QB, however, will make sure to watch live games from the owner’s box.
Give me your doubts…then watch what I do” – Aaron Rodgers pledges to return to NFL after injury
“I miss the guys. It’s hard to be away from them,” Rodgers told Pat McAfee. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to get there at some point. . . . I don’t think I can be on the sidelines until I can evade guys running [into me]. I don’t know if I’ll be hanging out with Woody and Christopher [Johnson] in the owner’s box eating hot dogs. I don’t eat hot dogs.”
Despite not being able to physically be with the team, Rodgers has continued to “earn” his Jets paycheck by staying in constant communication with teammates, especially quarterback Zach Wilson.
“I talk to Zach all the time,” Rodgers said. “I love Zach. Zach’s my guy. I’m pulling for him. We talk every single day. Just want him to go out and play free and confident this week. Bill Belichick and the [New England] Patriots. Jets haven’t beaten them in a while. So, good time to end the streak.”
Jets coach Marquand Manuel praises Aaron Rodgers
Rodgers also left an imprint on the team throughout his time there in the offseason and training camp that sticks with them while he’s gone, according to Jets coach Marquand Manuel.
“I wouldn’t say he’s not here,” Manuel said on Thursday. “The fact of what he put in and poured into everybody – whether it’d be a joke on the side, or what play you could have made, or the little small things that Aaron does – that has helped us all. And that same creed, we still work with that every single day.
“I can’t say enough about him, man, as a teammate, as a man, and seeing the maturation process from when I played with him and against him, he’s done a phenomenal job and 10 times more than we could have ever anticipated. For not just the durability of our team, but for the mentality which we bring and we take out there to the practice field every day. I can’t say enough positive words about a man that I appreciate, what he’s done for us and what he’s continuing to do for us.”
Manuel, 44, was Rodgers’ teammate on the Green Bay Packers for the 2006 NFL season and is now the safeties coach on the Jets.
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