(UPDATED) Aaron Rodgers carted off field, jogs out of locker room
By Josh Hill
Aaron Rodgers gave everyone a scare after he was carted off the field in the second quarter of Week 1.
Something that rippled to every corner of football last year was a collarbone injury that ended Aaron Rodgers season before it could really get started. The loss of Rodgers means the Packers were essentially taken out of the postseason conversation, and it changed the shape of the NFC playoff picture.
It could be argued that a healthy Rodgers prevents the Eagles storybook Super Bowl season. That’s all in the past, though, but the injury concerns for the Packers continue this year. Rodgers was carted to the locker room with what appears to be a leg injury.
No one knows how serious it is, but things aren’t looking good.
Initially, it was classified as an ambiguous leg injury. The replay seems to suggest that it could be a bone in his leg that we should be concerned about — whether it’s the leg bone or the tibia. There’s a chance it’s not as bad as it seems right now, but there’s a decent chance Rodgers just lost a huge chunk of his season.
The best case scenario is that he’s week-to-week with some sort of sprain of a tendon or a fracture of a bone. The look on his face as he was being carted off the field, however, was reminiscent of when he was carted off last year with an injury that effectively ended his season (that one game against the Panthers doesn’t really count).
Official word is that Rodgers is questionable to return with a knee injury, which is better news than we expected.
Better news is that Rodgers jogged out of the locker room after halftime.
Leaving on a cart is a very visceral image, and it’s not often a guy jogs out after a scene like that. Perhaps this was all a giant scare, but the Packers aren’t out of the woods yet. Rodgers fragility is something to keep an eye on, as this is twice in the span of a year he’s given fans a jolt with an injury scare.
Green Bay was set for a bounce-back year with Rodgers healthy but wasn’t as immediate a factor as they were last year. Rodgers potentially missing the season — or any time at all — doesn’t change as much as it did last year, but it takes a major player out of the game before the season can really get started.
This story will be updated live with the latest news.