The New York Jets have “Super Bowl or Bust” expectations with Aaron Rodgers back under center in 2024. Even though the 2023 season extremely disappointing after Rodgers went down, that hasn’t stopped the team from believing they have as good of chance as anyone to win it all this season.
However, Rodgers’ absence from mandatory minicamp drew unwanted attention from all over the league. After the absence was officially ruled “unexcused,” Rodgers had something to say.
Aaron Rodgers Responds To The New York Jets Labeling His Absence As Unexcused
According to Zac Wassink of Yardbarker:
NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated mentioned last week that the New York Jets didn’t excuse quarterback Aaron Rodgers from attending the club’s two-day mandatory minicamp because “they could not excuse and maintain credibility with the rest of the locker room.”
Breer shared Rodgers’ feelings on the subject for a piece published Monday.
“I did a little more digging over the past few days,” Breer explained. “What more I could ascertain was how the Jets and Rodgers reached an understanding of the ‘one team, one set of rules’ logic to not excusing his leave. Rodgers, I’m told, was good with it.”
Rodgers was a regular at voluntary workouts throughout the spring but reportedly enjoyed “a vacation overseas” last week that individuals such as Jets head coach Robert Saleh knew about before the club revealed the dates for mandatory minicamp.
Analysts such as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk previously questioned why the Jets didn’t simply schedule their minicamp for the first full week of June so Rodgers could participate.
“And while, yes, the Jets could’ve moved minicamp up a week, the staff didn’t want to do that because generally having a mandatory minicamp a week before the end of the offseason program essentially green-lights everyone taking the last week of voluntary work off,” Breer added in Monday’s article. “Which might mean more guys who need the work a lot more than Rodgers does cutting a week off their offseason programs, which would be worse than one guy missing, even if that one guy is Rodgers, because Rodgers wouldn’t be there that week anyway.”
Saleh, along with New York cornerbacks D.J. Reed and Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner , were among the noteworthy members of the Jets who defended Rodgers last week. Saleh spoke with Breer and insisted that Rodgers has been “a phenomenal teammate” since joining the Jets via a trade from the Green Bay Packers in April 2023.
From the sounds of it, all is well inside the Jets’ locker room. Multiple teammates have come to Rodgers’ defense in the wake of his absence.
Rodgers has clearly communicated with the team about his plans for the month of June. Will this all correlate to wins come September?
For More Of My Content
Follow me on Twitter at @mcquadewarnold. Reach out to me personally at mcquadewarnold@gmail.com. To read more of our articles and keep up to date, click here! – JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE