It looks like the Broncos won’t see Aaron Rodgers in Week 5
Sep 11, 2023, 10:15 PM
DENVER — The Nathaniel Hackett-Broncos rematch remains on for Oct. 8. But it appears Hackett won’t have Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback who helped vault him into the head-coaching conversation two years ago.
Monday night, the Hackett-Rodgers reunion train derailed just four plays into its opening night. The 19-year veteran quarterback left MetLife Stadium on a cart after absorbing a sack from Buffalo’s Leonard Floyd.
Shortly after the game, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Jets feared a torn Achilles tendon for Rodgers. That would end his season.
Rodgers joined the Jets in March in a blockbuster trade that brought him back together with Rodgers, his offensive coordinator in Green Bay. Rodgers earned back-to-back MVPs with Hackett as his coordinator, although Packers head coach Matt LaFleur handled the playcalling.
Hackett parlayed the success in Wisconsin into the Broncos head-coaching job 20 months ago. But Rodgers remained in Green Bay, agreeing to a contract extension several weeks after Hackett joined the Broncos. That news barely had a chance to settle when news broke that the Broncos had traded for Russell Wilson, sending a massive amount of draft capital to Seattle for the 9-time Pro Bowl quarterback.
The Hackett-Wilson marriage proved to be ill-fated. Wilson endured the worst season of his career. Denver’s offense struggled to the point where Hackett surrendered play-calling responsibilities after eight games. As other elements of the team fell into disrepair, team ownership fired Hackett with two games left in his first — and only — season as Broncos head coach.
Hackett subsequently landed with the Jets as their offensive coordinator. And when the Jets acquired Rodgers in April, it appeared as if things were falling into place.
But by early Monday night, the only thing falling was the Jets’ hopes.
Despite losing Rodgers, the Jets rallied to stun Buffalo, 22-16 in overtime. Hackett’s offense, now led by Zach Wilson accounted for 16 points — the exact total it amassed in three of the eight Broncos games for which Hackett called plays last season.
It might be hard-pressed to match that tally without Rodgers. And Hackett might find it difficult to exact even a small measure of revenge on the Broncos — and the successor as head coach who shredded him in a USA Today interview — without his hand-picked QB.
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