GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Aaron Rodgers watch has begun.
No, it won’t be a weekly will-he-or-won’t-he return from his broken collarbone like it was in 2013, but after Rodgers was seen Wednesday doing some work off to the side during practice, it at least piqued the interest of those wondering if the Green Bay Packers quarterback will be ready to play when he’s first eligible to come off injured reserve in Week 15.
“I think he’s making really good progress,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Thursday. “I know the training staff and the strength and conditioning staff are very pleased with where he is. He’s moving right along.”
Rodgers took some snaps from one of the Packers’ trainers and then simulated the throwing motion by whipping a towel several times. He did not throw during the portion that was open to reporters.
Nothing more than rehab can occur for two more weeks. That’s when Rodgers would be allowed to return to practice.
The rules of injured reserve require a player to sit out practice for at least six weeks and not play for at least a total of eight weeks. Rodgers went on injured reserve Oct. 20 -- a Friday -- meaning the earliest he could practice is Dec. 1. The Packers don’t practice on Fridays, so his actual first session wouldn’t be until Dec. 2, when the Packers hold their brief day-before-the-game practice in advance of the Dec. 3 game against Tampa Bay.
Rodgers then could be activated off injured reserve -- they’re holding one of their two designated-to-return tags for him -- on Dec. 15, two days before the Week 15 game at Carolina.
But Rodgers isn’t looking that far ahead. In his only extended session with reporters following surgery, he said he would come back only if his collarbone was completely healed. Rodgers underwent surgery on Oct. 19 to have plates and screws inserted to stabilize his broken right clavicle.
“It was just good being back on the practice field,” Rodgers said in a text message Wednesday to ESPN Wisconsin’s Jason Wilde. “Schedule hasn’t changed. Out eight weeks. Only back if it’s completely healed.”
When Rodgers broke his left clavicle in 2013, the Packers did not place him on injured reserve. He threw for several weeks before he was finally cleared to return.