Aaron Rodgers' Social Media Has Old Teammate Thinking About Early Return

Ahead of the 2023 NFL season, Aaron Rodgers dominated the spotlight. The quarterback swapped Green Bay for the Big Apple, and he was expected to make the Jets a contender.

Then fate intervened. After mere minutes on the field, Rodgers went down with an Achilles injury. Initial reports suggested that he would be done for the season, leaving the Jets to fade away.

In reality, though, that hasn't happened. Gang Green has hung tough, and the injured signal-caller has made visible progress toward a return. He is, after all, someone who built a career on proving his doubters wrong, so maybe a 2023 comeback is in the cards.

And while we don't have a concrete answer, Kurt Benkert is trying to connect the dots. One of Rodgers' recent social media posts, it seems, could contain a potential clue.

Let's break it down.

Rodgers' Post Prompted Comeback Speculation

When it comes to social media, things are in the eye of the beholder. Is a small detail a coincidence? Or is there a Taylor Swift-style web of clues and Easter eggs at play?

Consider one of Rodgers' posts.

Ahead of the holiday season, the signal-caller teamed with Zenith to launch a special edition of the Chronomaster watch. While the green details are eye-catching, Kurt Benkert noticed something else.

Benkert, who briefly played alongside Rodgers in Green Bay, took to X, formerly Twitter, to highlight that the watch depicted in the ad showed the second hand pointing to 12 while the date display showed 28. Those two details, combined with Rodgers writing "a little more time..." prompted some very public musing about the possibility of a secret message.

"Is @AaronRodgers12 aiming to return on 12/28 against the Browns," Benkert wrote. "Thursday Night Football... "He also added a "thinking" emoji for good measure.

Newsweek reached out to Benkert on X for comment about his post.

For those doing the math at home, that would mean Rodgers would return from a major injury and subsequent surgery in less than four months. Cam Akers, who returned from a right Achilles injury in 2021 while with the Rams more quickly than anyone expected, took 5 1/2 months to get back on the field. Now with the Vikings, he tore the left one Sunday.

As you might expect, the tweet in question garnered a variety of responses.

Some, like user waveydave86, questioned why the hands weren't pointing to kickoff time if Rodgers was trying to send a message.

Others, however, had a variety of theories about what the time depicted was supposed to mean.

User thenamesroddy quipped that Rodgers was using "the taylor swift school of subliminal messaging." Benkert replied to that message, saying that the Jets QB is "a swiftie." He also added another thinking emoji for good measure.

Rodgers' Timeline Is a Mystery

And while it's easy to write off this sort of social media speculation as nothing more than silly, it is easy to see how we got to this point.

When Rodgers went down, outlets like ESPN and NFL.com referred to his injury as season-ending. And while that diagnosis would be enough for most players to fade into the background, Rodgers isn't most players.

Before long, though, Rodgers and those close to him began insisting that his career wasn't over. We then heard about a potential playoff return and how he was ahead of the curve during his rehab, and we saw him walking without crutches and throwing on the field before kickoff. The goal is apparently to return before the season is over.

Despite the signs of progress, though, the Jets haven't offered much of an update. At the end of October, general manager Joe Douglas said that the organization was expecting to have Rodgers back, but he clarified that he was talking about physically rejoining the team, not taking the field.

"With the team," Douglas said. "With the team. I have no timeline on, again, I'm not an expert, I'm not a doctor. I have no timeline to give you guys on him coming back."

Newsweek reached out to the Jets about Rodgers' return-to-play timeline.

Given Rodgers' status—this is a marquee quarterback, not a third-string long-snapper—and the ambiguity around his injury, it's only natural to speculate about his return. So, until we get more clarity one way or another, all sorts of ideas are going to be laid out.

As for this specific theory, you'd have to imagine that all parties involved would appreciate the drama. Having Rodgers return at all would be a boon. Having him suit up ahead of schedule for a late-season game would draw plenty of eyeballs to an otherwise indifferent Thursday Night Football game. On the other hand, though, there are probably more friendly environments for a return than a cold night with Myles Garrett chasing you down.