Aaron Rodgers hurts ankle in Jets’ opening series, won’t return; X-rays negative

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered an ankle injury during the team’s opening drive in Week 1 — just four snaps into his first season with the team. 

The team has ruled him out for the remainder of the game, but X-rays came back negative.

Buffalo Bills outside linebacker Leonard Floyd sacked Rodgers. Floyd twisted Rodgers around in the course of completing the play and the QB tangled his legs. Rodgers tossed the ball at a Bills player in frustration and hobbled off the field with the help of trainers on either side of him. After a few minutes in the blue medical tent, he rode a cart to the tunnel, where he limped back to the team’s locker room for X-rays.

The Jets ruled him as questionable following the injury. And while MetLife had erupted at multiple points to start the game — including the Jets defense forcing a punt on the Bills’ opening drive — they went silent when Zach Wilson took the field in Rodgers’ absence. Soon after, the wifi slowed to a stop at MetLife, likely due to fans scrolling and updating their phones to see the latest on Rodgers.

The 39-year-old quarterback joined the team this offseason in a trade with the Green Bay Packers, who sent Rodgers, their 2023 first-round pick (No. 15) and a 2023 fifth-round pick (No. 170) to the Jets for a 2023 first-round pick (No. 13), a 2023 second-round pick (No. 42), a 2023 sixth-round pick (No. 207) and a conditional 2024 second-round pick.

The team acquired Rodgers after Wilson, the 2021 No. 2 overall pick, flopped in his second NFL season. He finished the year completing 54.5% of his passes for 1,688 yards, six touchdowns and seven interceptions. The Jets benched him at multiple points in the season, eventually demoting him to QB3.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

---

---