Former Jets QB shares huge Aaron Rodgers prediction

Former New York Jets quarterback and current "The NFL Today" analyst Boomer Esiason isn't buying that injured signal-caller Aaron Rodgers will return from the torn Achilles he suffered in Week 1 in time to play as soon as New York's game at the Miami Dolphins on Dec. 17. 

"He’s not coming back," Esiason directly said about Rodgers during Friday's edition of the WFAN "Boomer and Gio" program," per Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "I don’t care what anybody says. The Jets would be idiots to put him out there given the circumstances of the team and the condition of his foot." 

Esiason, who still has ties to the Jets, suggested last month that individuals within the organization were "trying to keep the team engaged" by making players believe Rodgers could complete a remarkable recovery in time to save New York's season. The Jets enter the upcoming weekend at 4-7 and the ESPN Football Power Index gave Gang Green a 0.5% chance of making the playoffs as of early Friday evening. 

At least one orthopedic surgeon thinks Rodgers, who resumed practicing on Wednesday and turns 40 years old on Saturday, should wait "closer to five months" from the initial injury before he faces a live defense in a meaningful game. Meanwhile, club legend Joe Namath publicly campaigned for Jets chairman Woody Johnson and vice chairman Christopher Johnson to shut Rodgers down with 2024 in mind. 

"His foot needs time," Esiason added on Friday. "He’s a human being. He’s not God. He may be rehabbing his [butt] off, which I give him a lot of credit for…but the realistic expectation to see him on the football field taking a tackle? No way."

Esiason may be proven right, if only because Rodgers can't fix what's been an awful Jets offense as it pertains to this Sunday's home game against the 5-6 Atlanta Falcons. A New York loss to Atlanta should silence talk about Rodgers taking the field ahead of Week 18 considering he's planning on starting for the Jets next September.