After dealing with left knee issues through most of last season, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was able to avoid surgery and should be able to fully participate in the team's offseason program beginning April 1, according to ESPN's Rob Demovsky.
"I feel great," Rodgers said on NFL Network, according to Demovsky. "My body feels really good. Instead of getting surgery postseason, (I) decided to kind of go through a different routine with my knee than I've done in the past, and I'm feeling really, really good."
Rodgers initially suffered a left knee sprain during the Packers' season opener against the Chicago Bears and wore a brace until the team's Nov. 4 matchup with the New England Patriots.
With new head coach Matt LaFleur, the Packers are able to begin their offseason program two weeks earlier than usual, as teams with returning head coaches can't start until April 15.
Although Rodgers acknowledged there's been "a lot of change" within the organization, including the arrival of LaFleur, the veteran signal-caller remains optimistic about the Packers' fortunes.
"It's tough at first," he said. "But it usually works out for the best so I'm excited about what's going on in Green Bay and the future there."
The seven-time Pro Bowler threw for 4,442 yards, 25 touchdowns, and two interceptions in 2018. The 6-9-1 Packers suffered their second consecutive losing season and failed to make the playoffs.
He last had surgery on that knee after the 2015 season. That procedure was described as a "cleanup of an old injury." That's the same knee on which Rodgers had ACL reconstruction done during college at the University of California, stemming from a high school basketball injury.
"It's the lead leg, the plant leg, it's not the brace or the back of the drop leg, which I haven't had, thankfully, a major right knee injury, but I've dealt with the left knee injury since I was 16 years old," Rodgers said in September shortly after the season.
"Fortunately Doc cleaned me out a few years ago after the season and it's been excellent since then."
Rodgers said he will make his annual appearance in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week. He will play with his regular partner, PGA Tour winner Jerry Kelly, a Wisconsin native.
