Aaron Rodgers Returns to IR, Joe Callahan to 53-Man Roster

The Packers have placed quarterback Aaron Rodgers on injured reserve, ending his 2017 season.

To fill his roster spot, the Packers have re-signed quarterback Joe Callahan, who was released late last week to clear a roster spot for Rodgers.

What this means for the Packers

Rodgers struggled in his only game after returning from an injured collarbone, throwing three interceptions on underthrown balls in Sunday’s loss to the Carolina Panthers. That loss put the Packers’ playoff hopes near zero, and the they were shortly thereafter officially eliminated from the playoffs with Atlanta’s win on Monday Night Football.

With the playoffs an impossibility and Rodgers not yet fully recovered from his injury, the Packers clearly feel it is in the team’s best interests to let Rodgers heal completely while playing out the rest of the 2017 season with backups.

What this means for Rodgers

Rodgers clearly still has a ways to go in his recovery from his broken collarbone. Though he said early in the recovery process that he didn’t want to return unless he was fully healed, reports indicated prior to the Carolina game that Rodgers may not, in fact, have been all the way back when he took the field.

Though there’s little reason to think he won’t eventually return to form, the player we saw in Carolina was clearly not ready to compete at his pre-injury levels, and letting him rest is something of an admission of that.

Now, though, the healing process can be completed in full, setting Rodgers up for a completely clean bill of health heading into the 2018 season.