Aaron Rodgers is throwing the football without crutches. Could he defy odds and play for the Jets again this season?

Video emerged Sunday of Aaron Rodgers throwing on the field at MetLife Stadium before the New York Jets game.

The pre-game clip of Rodgers, who was recently seen walking without crutches three weeks after having surgery on his Achilles tendon, has football fans and reporters on social media speculating whether or not the four-time MVP could return to live action before the season ends.

In the days following the injury, Rodgers made one of his for-profit appearances on The Pat McAfee Show, where he hinted that his goal was to return for a Jets playoff run. "I think as Kevin Garnett said anything's possible," he said.

More recently, the Sunday Night Football broadcast on NBC reported on Oct. 1 that Rodgers is aiming to play this season.

The following Tuesday he said this to Pat McAfee, "It's pretty obvious I'm well ahead of my normal protocols when it comes to rehab for this kind of thing, but that was always what my mindset was."

"That was what (Dr. Neal ElAttrache) and I talked about in the locker room honestly after (the injury) happened," he added. "It was the type of surgery that he'd been doing now for a little bit and then whatever protocols were out there, not adhering to those."

"I've just kind of been making my own protocols and own timetables with the blessing of (doctors)."

Achilles injuries could take several months to a year to heal and Rodgers is also the oldest player in the league, which he has working against him.

Stephania Bell, a physiotherapist and ESPN's lead medical expert, recently appeared on the "Flight Deck" podcast with New York Jets reporter Rich Cimini.

Bell said running back Cam Akers, who was with the Los Angeles Rams and is now with the Minnesota Vikings, showed that it is possible to return to play in a short amount of time.

Akers tore his Achilles in the lead-up to training camp in 2021 and returned in Week 18, a little less than six months after suffering the injury. The Rams went on to win the Super Bowl, but Akers said at the time that he didn't play his best football throughout the playoff run.

"Were we thinking about the ability to come back from an Achilles repair a little bit differently after seeing an NFL running back do that in that time frame? Probably so," Bell said.

If Rodgers is aiming to return this season, while attempting to make the playoffs, he'll need to do so by late December, a little more than three months after suffering the injury. Week 18, the last week of the regular season, is the first weekend of January.

As is the case with every Achilles injury, the body needs time to repair itself. Specifically, the tendon needs time to repair itself. "If you overload a tendon that is still healing, you put too much stress on it, ... you can elongate that tendon to the point where it becomes non-functional," Bell said.

Bell is making the point that being "enthusiastic" about your recovery is great but you don't want to "overdo it," and not let the body recover naturally.

Whether Rodgers will play this season is also dependent on whether the Jets are in playoff contention. They currently have a 3-3 record after upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

Rodgers has said he wants to play more football even if it is not this season. After all, he has a few all-time NFL records lists to move up.

The future first-ballot Hall of Famer is currently 9th all-time in NFL career passing yards. Dan Marino, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady are ahead of him.

He is 5th all-time in passing touchdowns. Favre, Manning, Brees and Brady are ahead of him.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Aaron Rodgers seen throwing football without crutches before Jets game