The New York Jets entered the 2023 NFL season with high expectations, mostly because Aaron Rodgers would lead their offense. However, the veteran quarterback suffered a season-ending injury in his first drive with the team.

The Jets still managed to overcome his absence to pull off a shock against the Buffalo Bills, but many wonder how far they can realistically go without the four-time MVP, for whom they gave up a lot this offseason.

After all, Zach Wilson has failed to impress so far and there are not many reliable options in the open market. Even so, Robert Saleh believes his team still has what it takes to succeed.

Robert Saleh warns Jets can compete even without Rodgers

“I don’t know why people are trying to put an obituary onto our teamname,” Saleh said, via ProFootballTalk. “Aaron is an unbelievable piece to this whole thing, and we love him, but I think there’s 52 other guys in the locker room, plus the 16-practice squad guys who believe that we can do a lot of good things here. We’ve got a championship-caliber defense. We’ve got great skill guys on the offensive side of the ball. Our offensive line is continuing to gel and get better. We’re excited about our group. We’ve worked hard over the last couple of years with players, coaches, scouts, G.M., building a pretty cool organization, so there’s a lot of faith in the locker room on the things that we can still accomplish this year. While the outside world can go ahead and write whatever story they want to write, there’s still the true story being written in this building.

“I feel more for Aaron than anyone,” he added. “He’s invested so much into this organization, so much into this journey that’s embarked on and wanting to be a part of what we’ve got going here and how much he’s invested not only in this organization but his teammates, himself, this fan base, this city. I have a lot of emotions for him. It’s really all about him. I don’t look at it like ‘woe is me here’ for the organization. I think guys are excited about being able to step and continue the things we’ve been building. But a lot of hurt for Aaron.”

What injury does Aaron Rodgers have?

Aaron Rodgers tore his left Achilles tendon only four plays into the Jets’ season-opening game against the Bills in the first Monday Night Football of 2023.