Getty Aaron Rodgers #12 of the Green Bay Packers warms up before the game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on November 21, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is keeping all options on the table when it comes to remedying his significant toe injury, including the possibility of having to undergo surgery to clean things up.
Rodgers shed some more light on his toe injury — which he described as “worse than turf toe” and “very, very painful” after Sunday’s 34-31 loss to the Minnesota Vikings — and confirmed that it is something he does not expect will go away anytime soon during his weekly interview with The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, November 23.
Realistically, Rodgers said the options for improving the health of his toe could range from continuing to rest in practice to potentially getting a procedure done, likely after the season, that would make the pain more manageable. He did, however, take one possibility off the table when it comes to getting his toe back to full health.
“I feel similar to how I felt last Tuesday,” Rodgers told McAfee. “This is something that’s not going to go away. I’m not sure what the bye week is gonna look like, there’s a lot of options on the table. One option that is not on the table is sitting out. I’m going to push through this and keep playing.”
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Rodgers Keeps Cause of Injury to Himself
In addition to some of the possible routes for addressing and recovering from his injured toe, Rodgers also shared a little bit more about the nature of the injury itself. He described it as a “bone issue” with his pinky toe that feels worse than his previous experience with having turf toe, which deals with the joint of the big toe.
Unfortunately, McAfee wasn’t able to get Rodgers to confess what caused his injury. Rodgers had been added the injury report for his toe immediately after being activated off the reserve/COVID-19 list on November 13, leading to wild — and sometimes hysterical — speculation about how Rodgers injured his toe in the first place. Rodgers even quipped that it was COVID toe but was reluctant to provide a concrete reason or cause for the injury when pressed about it.
How did Aaron Rodgers injure his toe?
Wrong answers only.
“I’ve given you enough information at this point,” Rodgers told McAfee. “I have a toe injury that isn’t going away and I’m gonna be dealing with it for at least the next few weeks.”
Rodgers Says Packers ‘Need’ to Get Healthy
Rodgers isn’t the only member of the Packers’ roster looking to get healthier in the coming weeks with the bye approaching in Week 13. The Packers are still without a chunk of top-level talent on their roster, including a pair of All-Pros in cornerback Jaire Alexander and outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith. They are also eagerly awaiting the return of star left tackle David Bakhtiari from ACL surgery he underwent in January.
Here’s what Rodgers said about how injuries have plagued the Packers in 2021:
“We still have two of our top defensive players who haven’t played a whole lot this year in Jaire (Alexander) and Za’Darius (Smith). I’ve definitely seen Jaire. I feel like I’m not overstepping stating that he hasn’t had any setbacks I don’t think by any of the medical information he’s received. I don’t know if that means he comes back and plays this year, but I know Z, we’re all hopeful that Z is able to come back and play at some point this year. But we’ve got a lot of injuries. We’ve had a number of ACLs that have hurt us, and obviously we’ve been wanting Dave (Bakhtiari) to come back for a while and he’s just not quite ready. It’s been a grind, but we’ve got a home game against a good opponent this week and we’re going to have to find a way and get to the bye at 9-3.”