Aaron Rodgers' unlikely comeback story is accomplishing his main goal

If you didn't think injured and aging Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers could insert himself into almost daily news cycles even after tearing his Achilles on the first drive of the season, you haven't been paying attention for the last several years.

Early in his career, Rodgers showed off an uncanny ability to evade pressure and make off-schedule plays. As the years went on, Rodgers showed he was just as focused on seeming interesting as he was playing quarterback.

It was all going well early on in New York, with the media constantly fawning over Rodgers as he took over a quarterback-starved team with championship goals. Then the injury happened, and he had to scramble to stay on in the spotlight.

And so an aggressive and almost impossible plan was hatched: What if Rodgers could beat all projections by months and return this season to save the day?

On a base level, I appreciate it. Rodgers knows he doesn't have much time left on the field, so why not push for all he can get? Rodgers has seldom seemed more down to earth or genuine in recent years as he did a few weeks ago on the "ManningCast" production of the Vikings' win over San Francisco, talking about how being on the field helps his sense of normalcy.

But if this isn't all a con, it at least feels like it's almost certainly much ado about nothing. The biggest hurdle is the medical side. While Rodgers has said he is targeting a Week 15 return, Pro Football Talk suggested OTAs in 2024 is more likely. That's much more in line with all available precedent.

The beautiful part for Rodgers, though, is that he has been able to hedge everything by saying he will come back if the Jets are "in the mix." That would be far more plausible if they were getting anything close to competent QB play in Rodgers' absence.

The Jets have to be asking themselves why they didn't go after a QB like Joshua Dobbs at the trade deadline instead of sticking with Wilson, who is No. 30 of 32 qualified quarterbacks on Total QBR. Dobbs has helped save the Vikings' season, which Andrew Krammer and I talked about on Tuesday's Daily Delivery podcast, and he potentially could have done the same in New York.

Instead, the Jets are 4-5 after a putrid 16-12 loss to the Raiders. As it stands now, they have a 7% chance of making the playoffs (per NYT's Upshot projections). Losses in the next two weeks to Buffalo and Miami would drop their record to 4-7 and their playoff odds to less than 1%.

There's a very good chance the Jets will reach the point that Rodgers is targeting in this whimsical return plan, and he'll be able to say, "I gave it all I could, but it's not worth the risk if we're not in the hunt."

But by then he will have stayed in the news for most of the season. It's a win for Rodgers, even if the Jets lose.

Here are four more things to know today:

*Dobbs was No. 2 in Total QBR this past week after being No. 1 for his relief effort against Atlanta a week ago. It's moved him up all the way to No. 13 in the season rankings, much of which of course came in Arizona.

*News that Wild star Kirill Kaprizov is "banged up a little bit," per coach Dean Evason, and was given Monday off of practice, is interesting. Could that help explain why Kaprizov has looked so flat this year? He's a minus-11 through 15 games and has just one even-strength goal.

*Imagine if the Gophers football team beats Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin this season — the first two of which have already happened — and the year still feels like a huge disappointment.

*Speaking of the Gophers, Star Tribune beat writer Randy Johnson will be my guest on Wednesday's podcast in the aftermath of Saturday's shellacking at Purdue.