Aaron Rodgers gave plenty to talk about in June when he skipped the New York Jets‘ mandatory minicamp ahead of the 2024 NFL season, with the team later making things worse as it said his absence was unexcused.
In a recent appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast, the 39-year-old finally shared his thoughts on this situation after weeks of silence. According to Rodgers, the Jets’ minicamp wasn’t that different from an OTA.
“I’m sure I’ll get fined for that,” Rodgers said, as quoted by Pro Football Talk. “The thing I think people don’t understand is that when I was in the NFC North and played for that team years ago there used to be a real thing called minicamp where it was — you had one of them, usually. Sometimes it was right after the draft. But either way it was five practices in three days. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So two practices on Friday, two on Saturday, one on Sunday.
“Now, it’s not minicamp. They can arbitrarily put a tag on whatever week of OTAs they want. So this is the ‘minicamp’ week, which makes it somehow more mandatory than the other weeks. But it was an OTA schedule. That’s how words can be a little deceiving from time to time. You can make a story out of the fact that I missed a minicamp when it was really two OTA days. I came to the first 10.”
Aaron Rodgers #8 of the New York Jets looks on during warm ups prior to the game against the Atlanta Falcons at MetLife Stadium on December 03, 2023 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Rodgers missed minicamp due to a trip to Egypt he had already planned, and even though Jets head coach Robert Saleh told the media in June Rodgers had informed of an “event that was very important” to him, his absence was still unexcused.
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Jets looking forward to Rodgers’ return
While the minicamp episode was quite the storyline around the Jets last month, now it’s time to turn the page as training camp is underway. Rodgers may have moved to New York in 2023, but 2024 feels like his first season with the team.
The veteran quarterback suffered a season-ending injury only four snaps into his Jets debut in 2023, so this could be the first year we’ll get to see how far he can take this team.
The Jets haven’t made the playoffs since 2010, but with a strong defense and an offense led by Rodgers, the team hopes to put up a fight in the AFC East. Only time will tell us how this works.
Who do the Jets play in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season?
Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets will kick off their 2024 NFL season on September 9, when they play 2024 Super Bowl runners-up San Francisco 49ers on the road in the first Monday Night Football showdown of the year.
