The Jets QB room is an Achilles heel, thanks to an Achilles tear. That might not be the case for too much longer.

If you haven’t heard, Aaron Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles in the Jets’ Week 1 win over the Bills. For any mere mortal, an Achilles injury would be season-ending, but if you’ve seen Aaron Rodgers ever throw a football, the ‘mere mortal’ thing might be a stretch.

The Jets passer has made it abundantly clear that his intention is to return to the field in 2023, an assertion that’s been eyebrow-raising to those who are familiar with the lengthy rehab process following surgery to repair a torn Achilles.

Still, the quarterback’s public comments and videos that have surfaced of his weekly progression have allowed for a big ‘maybe’ when it comes to a 2023 return – and that may be enough to keep the Jets’ playoff hopes alive.

Here’s what to know about Rodgers’ potential return in 2023:

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When is Aaron Rodgers coming back?

Following the Jets’ 27-6 Week 9 ‘Monday Night Football’ loss to the Chargers, cameras caught Rodgers telling Chargers safety Derwin James, ‘give me a few weeks’ in regards to a return. If that seemed a little too good to be true, it apparently was.

‘It’s gonna be a few fortnights – it’ll be a few fortnights,’ Rodgers said.

Taking Rodgers at his most literal, a few (meaning three) and a fortnight (meaning two weeks), means that ‘a few fortnights’ puts him at a six-week return to the field. That means that Rodgers could return to the field as soon as Christmas Eve for the Jets’ Week 16 matchup vs. the Commanders.

Aaron Rodgers remains on injured reserve as of Nov. 8, but he can be activated at any time and play soon after, with his 21-day practice window opening once he’s activated.

Still, Rodgers has made it clear, through his own words, that he is angling for a return in 2023. If Rodgers is honest about his return date, then Jets fans will be in for a heck of an early Christmas gift.

Aaron Rodgers injury updates

Rodgers has been adamant that his rehab process is on or ahead of schedule in various interviews with McAfee, his only public speaking appearances since his injury in Week 1. On Oct. 15, Rodgers made a return to the MetLife Stadium field, where he was seen throwing passes without the aid of crutches prior the Jets win over the Eagles.

Since then, Rodgers has been at Jets home games, and has seemed more and more spry while throwing passes pregame. In Week 9, Rodgers was going as far as to drop back while throwing passes.

While Jets head coach Robert Saleh has been non-committal on a Rodgers return this year, if the quarterback is honest about potential return date, then Jets fans will be in for a heck of an early Christmas gift.

The wait for an announcement of Jake Paul’s next opponent is over.

A fight against Nate Diaz in the Octagon? Nope. A bout with Conor McGregor? Think again. A rematch against Tommy Fury? No chance. Paul is eschewing a marquee matchup for what he’s advertising as a bout against an experienced boxer.

On Dec. 15, Paul (7-1, four KO’s) will fight pro boxer Andre August, a 35-year old boxer who has amassed a record of 10-1-1 with five knockouts mostly in obscurity.

‘August has more KO’s than me, more wins than me, more experience than me, but I like to gamble,’ Paul wrote on his Twitter account. ‘The path to world champ starts here. Just straight up boxing.’

The bout, scheduled for eight rounds, will be fought at 200 pounds (cruiserweight).

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Paul, 26, is coming off a unanimous decision over Diaz in their 10-round bout Aug. 5.

Who is Jake’s Paul’s next opponent, Andre August?

August, who is from Beaumont, Texas, made his boxing debut in 2013 and in recent years has been mostly inactive. After a fight in November 2019, he took a hiatus of almost four years and before beating Brandon Martin in August by unanimous decision.

According to the news release, August began his fighting career not in the ring but in the streets and was involved in gang activity. The street brawling eventually led him to the boxing ring, where he won a state championship.

In addition to boxing, August lists himself as a promoter – the owner of Augu$t-Boy promotions.

‘I don’t talk very much,’ August said, according to the news release. ‘I’m all about that action! Jake Paul has the money, the fame, the team and the resources but he doesn’t have my hunger. When that bell rings, I am going to go straight to Jake Paul and ring his bell and send him back to YouTube for good.’

Why is Jake Paul fighting Andre August?

He says he wants to win a world championship. Does a fight against someone as little-known as August get him any closer?

‘I’m a professional boxer and I want to be world champion,’ Paul said, per the news released, ‘so I need to pursue the path towards greatness against people who have been boxing their whole life.’

Nikisa Bidarian, Paul’s business partner, touted August’s record and boxing experience as reasons for Paul to take the fight.

Of Paul, Bidarian said, ‘he’s once again doing what very few of the best and biggest boxers in the world have done in their ninth professional fight – fighting someone with a better record and more experience. Pound-for-pound, the great Terrence Crawford fought a 9-14 opponent in his ninth fight, Canelo Alvarez fought a 0-1 opponent, and Gervonta Davis fought an opponent that had 31 losses! But Terence, Canelo and Gervonta didn’t have the world watching. Jake Paul does, and he’s once again putting it all on the line taking on a 10-1 opponent.’

How can you watch the Jake Paul-Andre August fight?

The fight, which will take place at Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida, will be shown on DAZN.

There is no pay-per-view fee. It will be offered as part of a subscription package, according to the news release, which did not provide details on the subscription package.

‘So far, my entire boxing career has been on pay-per-view,’ Paul said, ‘but now it’s about more than business. Now I want to build my experience in the ring against seasoned fighters.’

INDIANAPOLIS – The first rule of Heisman Trophy voting is you don’t talk about Heisman Trophy voting. This is a serious and volatile undertaking, like ‘Fight Club’ only with more anger, and a Heisman voter who betrays the wishes of the Heisman Trophy Trust runs the risk of losing his or her vote. Or my vote, in this instance, because I’m going to talk about Heisman Trophy voting.

Michigan football running back Blake Corum denied any business affiliation with the team’s former recruiting analyst Connor Stalions, hours after images surfaced on social media which appear to show the two had an LLC together based out of Wyoming.

‘My first time hearing about it was when I went out to practice,’ Corum said Tuesday evening meeting with reporters inside Schembechler Hall. ‘First of all, I have no business with him, I don’t have any businesses with Connor or anything like that. But I’m glad whoever found it, whoever searched the web, was able to find that, I appreciate you.

‘My attorneys are on it, definitely get that figured out right away, get my name taken off of whatever it is.’

The address affiliated with the company is registered to a home that records show Stalions purchased in Ann Arbor, Michigan, shortly before he became a paid employee at the University of Michigan. The university’s online public records show Stalions was paid $55,000 annually in his role.

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Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Stalions was sued by his homeowners association for allegedly running a second-hand vacuum selling business out of his home. Corum emphatically said ‘heck no’ when asked if he invested with Stalions, and added he’s not sure how his name appeared on any of the paperwork when asked if he believed it was forged.

‘I don’t know what he did,’ Corum said. ‘I don’t know how that works, but it will get taken care of. I actually talked with my attorney right before I came out here, so they’re on it.’

Stalions is one of the most widely known names these days in college football circles; he’s been identified as the main person of interest in the NCAA’s investigation into the Michigan football program for an alleged illegal sign stealing operation.

Stalions reportedly purchased tickets on the sideline of Michigan’s future opponents and would send them to his accomplices, who would record the signals of the team in question and would send them back to Stalions to decipher.

Various reports said Stalions purchased 35 tickets to 17 different games and had a spreadsheet which indicated a $15,000 budget for his operation. Corum, who said the team has had a ‘tunnel vision’ mindset, made sure to clarify he was not involved with any alleged business.

‘That’s something I’m not really into,’ Corum said. ‘Vacuums aren’t my thing. I’m a clean person, but I’m not a cleaner. Vacuums aren’t my thing, I don’t know anything about that. Like I said I saw that right before I went out to practice.

‘Maybe other people are trying to use it as a distraction, but it’s not a distraction for me because I appreciate them finding it, you know what I’m saying, so I can take care of it. You know, that’s that.’

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.

The Michigan football sign-stealing saga, which already had no shortage of unusual twists and daily developments, has a new layer.

The Big Ten received documents from Michigan that the university claimed is evidence that Ohio State, Rutgers and Purdue communicated about the Wolverines’ signals in 2022, according to a report Tuesday night from ESPN.

The documents − according to the report, which cited unnamed sources − allegedly showed that Purdue got Michigan offensive signals from Ohio State and defensive signals from Rutgers as the Boilermakers prepared to play coach Jim Harbaugh’s team in the 2022 Big Ten championship game.

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The Wolverines went on to beat Purdue 43-22 on their way to a second-consecutive conference title and College Football Playoff appearance. Despite the comfortable final margin of victory, Michigan was outgained 456-386 and led by just nine with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Citing a Big Ten source, the ESPN report claimed the conference forwarded the information to the NCAA for possible follow-up. That information is not expected to impact the Big Ten’s possible disciplinary action against Michigan for violating the league’s sportsmanship policy. It’s unclear at this point if sharing the Wolverines’ signals is against that sportsmanship policy.

While the NCAA forbids off-campus scouting in advance of a game, a rule that’s at the center of the ongoing investigation into the Wolverines, it does not outlaw in-game sign-stealing.

Last season, Michigan beat Rutgers 52-17 on Nov. 5 and defeated archrival Ohio State 45-23 on Nov. 26.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday participated for about 40 minutes in a roundtable discussion with former college football players about issues surrounding the treatment and benefits college-sports programs provide to their athletes, one of the meeting participants said.

Former Georgia running back Keith Marshall told USA TODAY Sports that the session, which also included a number of White House staffers, lasted for more than an hour. And while he said he came into the meeting wondering whether it was a ‘PR play,’ he came away believing the White House ‘is clearly very interested in being involved in the conversation’ about ongoing college sports issues and ‘how to create a better environment’ for college athletes.

‘It was just exciting,’ added Marshall, who is a co-founder of The Players’ Lounge, a web platform that provides content from current and former college athletes and seeks to provide them with additional opportunities to make money from their name, image and likeness (NIL).

Marshall said Biden and his staff ‘didn’t get into any federal legislation … or that you can expect us to do X or Y or Z’ but that Biden ‘100 percent’ believes that athletes should be able to receive long-term health care for injuries suffered while playing college sports. Marshall also said the conversation covered safety issues, the question of whether athletes should be able to unionize, matters related to athletes’ NIL activities and Title IX.

Prior to the meeting, a White House official said the session was “to discuss why college football players – and all student-athletes – deserve consistent safety standards, to have voice, and to benefit from the revenue they produce.

“The student-athletes who play college football work hard on behalf of their schools, their communities, and their families and President Biden believes all workers should be treated fairly and college athletes should be too,” the official said. “All college athletes deserve consistent safety standards, to have voice, and to benefit from the revenue they produce.”

Amid heavy lobbying from officials representing the NCAA, conferences and schools, there are a variety of bills and discussion drafts of bills that have been circulated on Capitol Hill this year regarding college athletes’ NIL activities, as well as issues about health-care benefits, safety and educational opportunities.

The NCAA is eager for a law that would create federal standards concerning athletes NIL activities that would take the place of the current patchwork of state laws. It also wants any Congressional action to prevent college athletes from becoming employees of their schools, and it wants protection from lawsuits challenging changes to its rules.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has offered a proposal that is relatively narrow in its focus on NIL matters. Cruz is the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has primary jurisdiction over this issue. But Sen. Maria Cantwell, who chairs the committee said recently she wants any Congressional legislation related to college sports to cover more than issues related to NIL.

Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; and Cory Booker, D-N.J., have put forward a much wider-ranging idea that, among other things, would establish a set of rules for athletes’ short- and long-term health care, their safety and their educational choice.

Sens. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., have introduced a bill that attempts to cover those issues, but also would largely prevent athletes from transferring schools for their first three years of eligibility and would provide the NCAA with a measure of legal protection from suits connected to the changes that would be made under their bill.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., have introduced a measure that includes, among other things, a provision allowing athletes from foreign countries to engage in NIL activities while they are in the United States. U.S. student-visa rules regarding work here by foreign students have made it virtually impossible for the thousands of athletes on NCAA teams to have NIL deals the way American athletes can.

Wednesday’s meeting, according to the White House official, was to include National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard and senior advisor and Director of the Office of Public Engagement Steve Benjamin.

In addition to Marshall, the former athletes invited were Andrew Luck, Desmond Howard, Ryan Clark, Rod Gilmore and Jordan Meachum. Howard, Clark and Gilmore have become commentators for ESPN. Meachum is involved with an athlete advocacy group, the College Football Players Association. ESPN anchor Kevin Negandhi also was invited.

There were no female athletes on the list of invitees, which also did not include a current college athlete.

Marshall said White House staff asked about the day-to-day lives of college athletes, and that the former players talked about ‘amateurism and the reality that it is a farce … with the sheer volume of revenue going up every year’ and college athletes lacking the kind of lobbying advocacy that professional athletes have through their unions.

The Biden Administration’s position on college athletes stated Wednesday is not surprising, given that one of its appointees, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, issued a memorandum in September 2021 saying that she views college athletes as employees of their schools under the National Labor Relations Act.

That opinion is being tested, starting this week, as an administrative law judge began proceedings Tuesday in a National Labor Relations Board complaint against the NCAA, the Pac-12 Conference and the University of Southern California that alleges they have unlawfully misclassified college athletes as ‘student-athletes’ rather than employees.

Those proceedings began just days after a federal judge in California granted class-action status in the damages portion of a lawsuit against the NCAA and major-college athletics conferences that could result in a multi-billion-dollar award to former and current college athletes.

It wasn’t as big of a long shot as, say, intercepting Peyton Manning and returning it 99 yards for a touchdown – as he did in 2008 – but former Green Bay Packers safety Aaron Rouse won his election for State Senate District 22 in Virginia on Tuesday, the second time he’s won an election in less than a year.

A Democrat, Rouse had been representing District 7 after winning a special election in January, having defeated Republican Kevin Adams for the spot. The same two men were vying for the newly drawn District 22 seat (representing 70% of the same area previously in District 7), and Rouse was way ahead at last check, with 55% of the vote and nearly all ballots counted.

Rouse, 39, has been in politics since 2018. He was previously a City Councilman in his home of Virginia Beach. He threw his hat in the ring for Senate District 7 when Republican Jen Kiggans won her race for U.S. Congress in November 2022.

Virginia Democrats swept both halves of the General Assembly in the vote held Tuesday, a damaging loss for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Virginia was one of four states holding legislative races in 2023.

Rouse was a third-round draft pick out of Virginia Tech for the Packers in 2007, and he spent the next two-plus seasons in Green Bay before landing with the Giants for the duration of 2009. The safety started 10 games with the Packers and appeared in 27, finishing with four career interceptions and one touchdown. That one score came against the Indianapolis Colts and future Hall of Famer Manning, an interception returned 99 yards for a score in a game where Nick Collins also had a pick-six.

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Coincidentally, that career highlight came on a pass intended for Colts receiver Anthony Gonzalez, who himself had a career of high-level politics. Gonzalez served as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio for four years but didn’t seek re-election in 2022. Gonzalez was among 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump, and Trump endorsed a potential challenger.

Rouse is married to another Councilwoman in Virginia Beach, Jennifer Valentine-Rouse.