The Packers might be pessimistic, but they’re not ruling Aaron Rodgers out yet.
According to Jason Wilde of ESPNWisconsin.com, Packers tight end Andrew Quarless let the cat out of the bag, saying Rodgers took snaps with the first offense Wednesday.
Rodgers said he had too much pain while doing individual drills last week, which dampened the enthusiasm.
“Twelve [Rodgers] looked real good today,” Quarless said. “It was good to see him out there, really working with the [No. 1] offense. He was out there before but wasn’t working as much with the offense, but today he took some offensive reps, which is a great thing for the team.”
When asked to clarify they were reps with the starting offense, Quarless replied, “Yes, sir.”
While his politeness is appreciated in a day and age when the media is not held in sufficient regard, Quarless’s coach might not appreciate it. Packers coach Mike McCarthy said that Rodgers was limited, and tried to keep the speculation in check.
“We’ll see how he is tomorrow. We’ll set a plan for him again tomorrow,” McCarthy said. “Aaron still is not medically cleared, and really, I think it’s important to stay in-tune with that because the topic of ‘Is he playing in the game?’ versus ‘Is he medically cleared?’ – those are two totally different issues.
“I clearly understand the importance of Aaron to the team, to the NFL, but we’ve got to make sure we do our due diligence and go through the process of getting him healthy.”
It still seems that they’re planning on Matt Flynn starting again, but even the hope of Rodgers returning is worth hanging onto.