GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers should be able to fully participate in the Green Bay Packers' offseason program, which will start even earlier than usual this year, because he was able to avoid surgery on his left knee.
Rodgers would only reveal that the injury, suffered in the season opener against the Bears, was a sprain. He wore a brace until the Nov. 4 game at New England. The 35-year-old quarterback had hinted during the season that surgery might be necessary this offseason but because he sustained a concussion in the regular-season finale against the Lions, he did not speak to reporters after the game or the next day when players cleaned out their lockers, so no one could ask him whether surgery was necessary -- until his appearance in Atlanta this weekend before the Super Bowl.