“I Had Torn Cartilage”: NFL HOF-er Empathizes With Grappled Aaron Rodgers Dealing Multiple Injuries

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers are having a horrid season. Sitting at 4-8, their playoff chances are extremely slim. Their loss against the Philadelphia Eagles confirmed the already running speculation that the Packers are not making it to the playoffs. But that might be the lesser of the two problems they faced that night. Their star QB, Aaron Rodgers, suffered a rib injury that could potentially see him out for the season. And he has a sympathetic hand holding him up, from someone well acquainted with injuries himself: Shannon Sharpe.

Speaking on ‘Skip and Shannon: UNDISPUTED’, Sharpe talks about how he understands the painful nature of Rodgers’ injury. He says, “I had torn rib cartilage… You don’t realize how much you use your torso… like damn, that hurt, brushing your teeth, brushing your hair, putting on this. You can’t get comfortable, it’s hard for you to breathe… and it’s painful. So imagine a quarterback, and all he does is this… but that’s what quarterbacks do, Skip, they have to turn; they have to rotate in order to throw the football.”

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He adds, “So it got very, very painful and you can see him grimacing on the sideline… I think they showed a clip of it when the staff was carrying out his suitcase. He couldn’t, you know, carry [on] his [own]… he didn’t escape the hit that he got… it didn’t look that painful. But hey, sometimes, the most important, sometimes the biggest hits don’t look painful. And you suffer injury from it.”

Jordan Love impresses as Aaron Rodgers makes an early exit from Sunday’s game

Sunday’s loss to the Eagles more or less cemented the Packers’ fate. But while the door to the playoffs slammed shut, another might have just opened up another one. Rodgers’ mid-game rib injury saw him being replaced by backup QB and 2020’s 26th draft pick, Jordan Love. And even though he hasn’t played a single game since he was picked, he did not disappoint on Sunday.

Love’s performance sparked a dormant debate, one about the Packers’ need to depend on Rodgers. Just like Sharpe, many would be right in speculating that the Packers will be better off training Love to reach the same skill level as Rodgers. An investment in the future might just be on the cards for Green Bay.

But Rodgers, the ever-optimist, is not willing to back down. “I don’t really want to take my mind there, but as long as we’re mathematically alive, I’d like to be out there,” he said. With the full details of his injury yet to be released, the Packers will be under immense pressure to decide their course of action for the rest of the season. A wrong move might just mark the end of an era.

Watch This Story: Depleted Aaron Rodgers heads back to distraught Packers’ locker room after another injury blow against the Eagles