Aaron Rodgers suffered catastrophic injury seconds into eagerly-awaited debut with ‘yummy’ new team

Two years on, Aaron Rodgers was back at MetLife Stadium, scene of one of the NFL’s more dramatic recent debuts.

On September 11, 2023, Aaron Rodgers tore his left Achilles on the fourth snap of the first series of his first game as a member of the New York Jets.

On September 7, 2025 he made his Pittsburgh Steelers debut after leaving the Jets earlier this year, and the results were an awful lot better for the player, rather the Gang Green fans who booed his return.

Rodgers finished with four touchdown passes, completed 22 of 30 passes for 244 yards and a rating of 136.7 in a 34-32 win for the Steelers in New Jersey.

Rewind 24 months, and it was on Monday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills in the season opener, in front of a home crowd that was salivating at the thought of Rodgers lifting the Jets from purgatory and into the postseason.

He ran out of the tunnel carrying an American flag in front of 83,345, as the anticipation soared to fever pitch.

Then, in the blink of an eye, it was all over. The dream of Rodgers being New York City‘s biggest star went up in smoke four plays into his Jets career.

Bills’ defensive end Leonard Floyd sacked Rodgers, and the four-time MVP shredded his Achilles in the process. Rodgers hobbled off the field with the trainers and the rest was history.

Zach Wilson ended up leading the Jets to a surprise 22–16 overtime win, capped by Xavier Gipson’s walk-off punt return touchdown, but Rodgers’ injury overshadowed any goodwill within the organization.

That would be as good as it got for the Jets, as they finished the year going 7-10, once again missing the postseason.

Rodgers had thought to himself that it would be the end of his career: “I was really thinking, ‘This is it. You don’t come back from this injury,'” Rodgers said in a two-hour interview on the “I Can Fly” podcast.

“I had this incredible offseason experience in a new city, a new town, with new teammates, a new organization, an owner for the first time, and really falling back in love with the game that I first fell in love with when I was 5 years old,” Rodgers said.

Getty

Getty

“It was absolutely beautiful and special and deep and rich and yummy, and just incredible.

“And then, one of the most heartbreaking nights of my life, when I played four plays. Talk about an ego death.”

After 18 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Rodgers was traded to the Jets in the 2023 offseason, making his debut for the long-suffering franchise, one of the most anticipated in sports.

All that excitement had to then quickly be bottled up and diverted to 2024, despite Rodgers’ coyness about a possible early return towards the end of 2023.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, the 2024 season went a lot worse for the Jets, even with Rodgers back under center.

Rodgers and the Jets limped to a 5-12 record that saw head coach Robert Saleh fired after a Week 5 defeat.

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He finished the year throwing for 3,897 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. By no means a bad season, given he was 40 and coming off an Achilles tear, but it was not one fans are used to seeing from Rodgers.

So what does 2025 have in store for the now 41-year-old QB?

Back to the scene of the crime.

Rodgers signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers in, and the sort of irony that only sports can throw up will see him back at MetLife in Week 1 to take on former Steelers QB Justin Fields and theJets.

Rodgers’ time in New York was a huge disappointment, and the injury he suffered in his first game as a Jet played a significant role in that, and it only got worse.

Mike Tomlin and the Steelers are hoping that Rodgers can return to the MVP-level of play now that he’s two years removed from the injury. Even at the ripe age of 41, Rodgers can still throw with ease.

All eyes will be on East Rutherford, New Jersey as Jets fans watch Rodgers run out of the tunnel and think to themselves, ‘What if?’

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