A report from earlier this spring suggested that the Denver Broncos could view quarterback Aaron Rodgers as a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option as Denver starter Bo Nix continued his recovery from the broken bone in his right ankle that he suffered this past January.
It now sounds like Nix may miss more of the Broncos’ offseason program than first thought.
How much time could Bo Nix miss after needing another procedure on ankle?
Nick Kosmider of The Athletic and Jeff Legwold of ESPN revealed that Nix “had a cleanup procedure performed on his right ankle last week as part of a scheduled follow-up with surgeon Norman E. Waldrop.”
ESPN notes that the organized team practice activity portion of Denver’s offseason is scheduled to begin on June 2. According to Kosmider, “it now appears to be an open question as to whether — or how much — Nix will see the field during Denver’s on-field workouts in June.”
That said, both Kosmider and Legwold shared that Nix is expected to be ready for the start of training camp practices in July.
Is Aaron Rodgers an option for Broncos?
The latest Nix update emerged less than 12 hours after it was learned that the Pittsburgh Steelers had placed a rarely-used unrestricted free agent tender on Rodgers. Per the terms of that tender, Pittsburgh will receive a compensatory draft pick if Rodgers signs with another team before July 22 or the first day of Pittsburgh’s training camp, whichever comes later.
Reports from early April indicated that the Broncos strongly wanted it known they would not be welcoming Rodgers for a visit this spring. On Tuesday, Brooke Pryor, Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN said that “there is not a known second suitor” for Rodgers as of the final week of April.
“The pulse leaguewide is that Rodgers’ two viable options were re-signing with the Steelers or retirement,” that ESPN piece added.
The Broncos are coming off a trip to this year’s AFC Championship Game and could be in need of a short-term solution at quarterback if Nix’s recovery doesn’t go as planned. Until Rodgers officially rejoins the Steelers, some could wonder if he may want to instead sign with a team that came within a win of playing in Super Bowl LX this past February.