Packers QB Aaron Rodgers Officially Undergoes Surgery

Initially reported by NFL Media insider Ian Rapoport, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers underwent surgery Thursday on his broken right collarbone. 

Rodgers first suffered the injury in the early beginnings of Sunday's loss to the Minnesota Vikings after a hit from Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr drove Rodgers into the ground. Rodgers, bracing himself for impact, extended his right arm to help cushion the landing but to no avail.

With Rodgers having officially gone under the knife, the Packers will now decide whether or not to move him to injured reserve or keep him on the 53-man roster in hopes that he would be able to return sometime late in the season.

Rodgers missed seven games with a broken left collarbone in 2013, and while the Packers went 2-4-1 cycling through quarterbacks such as Seneca Wallace, Scott Tolzien and Matt Flynn, Rodgers was able to return by week 17 to help defeat the Chicago Bears and advance to a fifth-straight postseason appearance.

Now, 2015 fifth-round pick Brett Hundley is the team's starting quarterback. It's unknown whether he'll be able to lead the team into a contending position by mid-December, but if he can pull it off and Rodgers is healthy enough to return -- two months from now -- then there's the likelihood Rodgers would step in and resume his role as the Packers' starter.

According to former NFL Team Head Physician, Dr. David Chao, surgery would give Rodgers the best chance to return this season.

"By video, Rodgers used his right hand to help push himself onto the cart that took him to the locker room." Chao wrote. "That gives hope for a less-unstable fracture. If the fracture is not comminuted, he could play as early as eight weeks post-surgery. He could be throwing as early as five weeks post-surgery."

Even if Rodgers is moved to I.R., the Packers could activate him if he's capable of playing. They're only able to upgrade two players from I.R. per season.

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Zachary Jacobson is a staff writer/reporter for Cheesehead TV. He's the voice of The Leap on iTunes and can be heard on The Scoop KLGR 1490 AM every Saturday morning. He's also a contributor on the Pack-A-Day Podcast. He can be found on Twitter via @ZachAJacobson or contacted through email at [email protected].

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Comments (37)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Since'61's picture

October 19, 2017 at 08:50 pm

Best wishes to Aaron Rodgers for a successful surgery and a complete recovery. Thanks, Since '61

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NickPerry's picture

October 20, 2017 at 07:31 am

Who in the heck would "Dislike" a comment like this? Forget that he's the best QB on the planet for a minute and people are going to hate because of that alone. But we're talking about one human sending wishes to another human to have a successful recovery after having surgery.

You HAVE to be concerned about someone like that don't you? I mean are the rooms in their house painted black?? Wow...

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dobber's picture

October 20, 2017 at 08:01 am

"I mean are the rooms in their house painted black??"

No, Purple.

...and only half of them because later in the season when the playoff hopes are fading they need to put aside time for hockey.

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Samson's picture

October 19, 2017 at 09:31 pm

Amazing. -- Some dude by the name of Chao looked at a video and concluded AR could be back in 8 weeks. ---- Typical American medical analysis. -- Thanks, Samson, Since '60.

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CheesyTex's picture

October 19, 2017 at 09:47 pm

Right on. We don't know if there was other damage, too. If ligaments torn, much more difficult to return quickly.

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croatpackfan's picture

October 20, 2017 at 05:53 am

Go, listen again, that "dude" said that "the best chances are if..." and he also said that it is the shortest possible scenario. He noted several times that this is his speculation, based on how Aaron went on the platform (he helped himself by slightly pushing with his right arm - which, by "dude" observation can be the sign of not complicated or not comminuted fracture)...

Also, I posted here several times that in Europe exists cure which helps bone to heal twice faster - "Osteogrow". If you want to know little more, go and visit web page: osteogrow.eu...

To support the idea of possibility to make bone healing faster, just remind yourself of Ty Montgomery broken ribs that healed in 2 weeks, enough for him to be ale to play haevily contact position...

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dobber's picture

October 20, 2017 at 07:43 am

Remember that in the United States, the only medical products that are available are ones that American pharma can make massive profits from. Usefulness and effectiveness are not in that equation...

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croatpackfan's picture

October 20, 2017 at 08:23 am

I know, but this might be taken under research - influence on sportsmen bone healing speed - or something like that! In that case, do not worry!

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dobber's picture

October 20, 2017 at 08:30 am

Maybe #12 needs to take a week-long vacation to Croatia... ;)

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Samson's picture

October 20, 2017 at 04:51 pm

Hey Croat --Of course you are right. --------- My next physical will be taken online. - Or maybe I'll just have someone video tape me and send that video to my doctor. --- Come on, a little reality.

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Iain's picture

October 20, 2017 at 10:29 am

I expect he'll be back after the bye week

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LASVEGAS-TOM's picture

October 19, 2017 at 11:50 pm

Googled AR, Read he was having a Pin & a Plate put in his shoulder. Anyone read this? Said he'd be lucky to be back Next Spring?
LVT

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NickPerry's picture

October 20, 2017 at 05:42 am

I would think if that was the case he'd be on IR already.

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dobber's picture

October 20, 2017 at 07:44 am

I think we'll find this out in a couple days. The Packer brass was supposedly waiting for the procedure to make a decision on IR...I think they'll wait until after the Saints game, for sure.

They can't piddle with a roster spot for a player they know won't make it back.

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Qoojo's picture

October 20, 2017 at 02:52 pm

If they put him on IR, then they can only bring back one other guy from IR. From what I could tell, this is the current IR list: Rollins, Murphy, Spriggs, Goode, and Barclay. They might want to bring back a couple of those OL guys if possible.

Biegel and Goodson are on reserve/physically unable to perform list. They have till week 12 now to bring these two back to roster.

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Bure9620's picture

October 20, 2017 at 05:54 am

I really think he could be ready week 16. This would be a total of 10 weeks recovery which if the collarbone was non-displaced, which it sounds like it is, it is not crazy at all. Many players have been healed with non-displaced fractures after surgery in 4-6 weeks. Again, it's his throwing side and also the Packers are going to be super conservative with him, so 12 weeks to the wild card if we make it. 3 months and this will be healed. I feel he could be back for the Vikings with the division on the line. They could IR him for the minimum and bring him back just in time which I think will happen.

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dobber's picture

October 20, 2017 at 08:02 am

I can't help but wonder if he had surgery "unofficially" whether he'd be back sooner...

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Lphill's picture

October 20, 2017 at 06:02 am

On the initial hit Rodgers is going to the ground with his hand out to brace his fall , he hits the ground rolling over . It did not even look like the shoulder took that bad of an impact but I guess it did , he did not fall directly on the shoulder with Barr on top of him , just bad luck I guess . I rather see him come back next season strong , let this season play out , let the rookies get experience including Biegel and M Adams .

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RCPackerFan's picture

October 20, 2017 at 06:06 am

I have heard different things on Rodgers. One of the latest things I heard (via radio) was that the surgery would give him the best chance of returning this year. That the plate that would be inserted would allow the bone to stay in place which would help aid in healing.

I also heard that it would like be 8-10 weeks.

So IF Rodgers can come back it likely would be the last week of the year just like before.

The only way Rodgers will return is if the team is in place to make the playoffs. That would likely mean the Packers have to go 6-4 the rest of the way. That would put them at 10-6. I do believe that can happen. So while many have written this team off already. I'm not ready to.

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RCPackerFan's picture

October 20, 2017 at 06:12 am

A sidenote. Last night watching the Chiefs-Raiders game, I noticed on 3 separate occasions that Khalil Mack was the same distance away from the QB as Barr was to Rodgers and in almost identical situations. The difference was Barr hit Rodgers and did drive him to the ground, whereas Mack either hit the QB, or pushed him or laid off. None of the times did he drive him into the ground.
I'm not saying Barr's hit was dirty, but he definitely could have done it differently as Mack did last night.

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jeremyjjbrown's picture

October 20, 2017 at 07:12 am

I have a lot of respect for Kahil Mack. He plays the game right on so many levels.

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Since'61's picture

October 20, 2017 at 07:32 am

RC - Barr's hit was unnecessary and a cheap shot. It was technically legal but he could have and should have pulled up ala Mack. As you correctly point out he could done it differently. Thanks, Since '61

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RCPackerFan's picture

October 20, 2017 at 07:40 am

I don't think it was a cheap shot, but was unnecessary. I get hitting the QB, but the driving to the ground was unnecessary.

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NickPerry's picture

October 20, 2017 at 07:34 am

I saw that too RC. One specific play he seemed to even pull his hands away. My immediate thoughts went to the hit by Barr.

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RCPackerFan's picture

October 20, 2017 at 07:55 am

Oh definitely. One play was almost identical, the only difference was Barr took Rodgers down and drove him to the ground where as Mack layed off.

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Qoojo's picture

October 20, 2017 at 02:58 pm

The difference I saw was that Mack did not wrap up the QB like Barr. I thought how Barr had his helmet into AR all the way classified as driving into ground.

Believe it or not, ESPN talking heads swayed me in the direction that it was not a dirty hit with the argument that if AR did not get injured, would anyone talk about the hit the next day? No, so people are really judging the result of the hit.

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Samson's picture

October 20, 2017 at 04:34 pm

Qoojo - Extend your argument a little more. -- If Keenum had been hit like AR and ultimately was injuried, needed surgery, etc. ------ no one would be talking about it at all. The NFL has always been about protecting the marquee players ( a media thing).

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Qoojo's picture

October 21, 2017 at 09:13 am

It was nice watching a TE that can catch

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sheppercheeser's picture

October 20, 2017 at 06:26 am

I thought that if a player was put on IR, he had to sit out a minimum of 6-weeks. That being said, why wouldn't GB put AR on IR so they could add more O-line help? I must be missing something- can someone enlighten me?

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croatpackfan's picture

October 20, 2017 at 06:40 am

8 weeks!

We, as the rest of the league do not have all the information. It might be partial fracture, It might be superficial fracture - they needed surgery just to remove that superficial part from collarbone. Who knows!?!

Also, Mike McCarthy said that they are waiting surgery, after which they will make the decision. So I presume we will know soon enough what to expect!

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RCPackerFan's picture

October 20, 2017 at 06:44 am

IR is 8 weeks. Pup is 6 weeks.

My guess is if they IR Rodgers, that would take away them being able to bring back an extra player off of IR. They are allowed to bring back 2 players from IR. They have 3 OL on IR that they could bring back. Maybe they want to bring 2 of them back. If they IR Rodgers and want to bring him back they can only bring back 1 OL.

They might have decided to wait until after the surgery to see how that went too before deciding on Rodgers. They may still IR him.

Honestly the league's IR rules need to be updated. Teams are handcuffed in what they can do with IRing players.

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dobber's picture

October 20, 2017 at 08:00 am

IR rules have been updating annually, it seems. They added the second "recall" IR slot this year. Honestly, I would say that they either need to increase roster limits by a couple slots so they can afford to carry a player with a longer-term injury and do away with the recall slots, or move to a reserve system that borrows a little bit from the other major sports...shorter temporary roster exemptions vs. long-term exemptions. I can't imagine the NFLPA would be against that.

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RCPackerFan's picture

October 20, 2017 at 08:07 am

They have updated but still isn't enough. In all honesty the 53 players would be fine, if they allowed teams more options with injury rules. For example change it to have a 3 game, 6 game, 9 game and season long injury list. If they want to put a limit on it they still can. Allow 2 players to be on each at a time if they have to. But why handcuff teams when there are more injuries then ever.

I would like them to add a few more spots but honestly the injury rules need to be changed.

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sonomaca's picture

October 20, 2017 at 08:22 am

If the NFL wants their best and most exciting player sidelined for most of the season, then they will allow this sort of dirty play. Wonder what sort of payout Barr gets for taking AR out?

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

October 20, 2017 at 10:39 am

Well, here is an article based on an interview with an orthopedic surgeon (who hasn't examined AR):

http://packerswire.usatoday.com/2017/10/20/does-aaron-rodgers-collarbone...

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4thand1's picture

October 20, 2017 at 06:19 pm

Surgery went well. If the Packers are still in the playoff hunt in 8 weeks, he'll play.

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Since'61's picture

October 20, 2017 at 08:47 pm

Packers have placed Rodgers on IR. Makes room for an OL or a CB. They can still bring AR back from IR.
Thanks, Since'61

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