Aaron Rodgers is looking to get as healthy as possible before he returns to the Green Bay Packers. According to TMZ Sports, the Packers quarterback was seen talking to famous sports doctor Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles. The two were photographed together at the Kerlan Jobe offices Friday morning, and Rodgers stayed there for nearly three hours.
ElAttrache is known for working on athletes such as Tiger Woods, Tom Brady and Conor McGregor. It’s not clear why Rodgers was visiting ElAttrache but it comes as Rodgers is dealing with a fractured toe and contemplating surgery. While appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers revealed he could have surgery while the Packers are off this week.
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“We’re hoping to avoid surgery, obviously, but the surgery would be such a minor one, it wouldn’t be something that I’d have to miss any time with,” Rodgers said, per USA Today. “We’ll kind of reassess early next week and make a decision, but … I could have surgery on a Monday or Tuesday and play on Sunday.” Ultimately, Rodgers doesn’t want to have surgery because of the issues it would cause while trying to play.
“The surgery would immobilize the toe, so that would be an issue the entire season that we’re dealing with,” he said. “It can avoid further displacement but it would immobilize the toe. We’re hoping with a couple weeks here we can get enough healing and maybe we can avoid doing that. … The ultimate goal is to not have to do surgery, this thing heals up a little bit better and we kind of make it through a few more weeks and it doesn’t bother you the last few weeks of the season.”
Rodgers has led the Packers to an 8-3 record, the second-best mark in the NFC. The next time they take the field will be on Dec. 12 when they host the Chicago Bears. This past weekend, Rodgers threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns in the 36-28 win over the Los Angeles Rams. After the game, Rodgers talked to reporters about playing with the pain.
“Last week, I tried to do some stuff on Friday, felt like we needed maybe a little jolt and that kind of impacted Sunday a little bit from a pain standpoint,” Rodgers said, per ESPN. “This week, I just did a walk-through on Saturday and obviously all the walk-throughs during the week, but no practice time, I think really helped. It definitely helped looking at the scans. The healing, kind of get to a better spot, so I’ve definitely felt better, but third quarter, late third, early fourth and I got stepped on early in the game, there was definitely some pain I was dealing with.”
