Green Bay Packers fans don’t have to worry about the whereabouts of their quarterback for the team’s mandatory minicamp this week.
Jordan Love is in Green Bay.
But New York Jets fans these days are wondering about the location of their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, after he was a no-show at the team’s mandatory minicamp Tuesday for what Jets head coach Robert Saleh called an “event that was very important to him.”
The 40-year-old Rodgerswho was at the team’s voluntary offseason team activities this spring, won’t be at the minicamp practices all week, reported The Athletic’s Dianna Russini on Wednesday.
Saleh said Tuesday that Rodgers communicated with him about his absence ahead of time but that it is “unexcused.” That means the former Packers quarterback will be subjected to a fine as defined by the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd, citing his sources, said Rodgers is on vacation overseas and that the public will learn about where he’s at on Thursday.
Not surprisingly, social media and sports talk shows pounced on the topic, which led to Saleh again being asked about Rodgers on Wednesday.
“Aaron and I are on the exact same page,” said Saleh, who has an 18-33 record in three years as head coach of the Jets. “There’s no issue between Aaron or his teammates, for that matter. We addressed it yesterday. It’s more of an issue for everyone outside the building than it is inside.”
Rodgers not being at minicamp in June three months before the season starts likely won’t have any bearing on his play.
But the optics, of course, don’t look good for a player who missed all but the first four plays of the 2023 season with a torn Achilles — his first with the Jets — and for someone who said this at the end of last season: “The (bulls—) that has nothing to do with winning needs to get out of the building. Flush the bulls—.”
Fans and other media weren’t going to forget Rodgers’ own words, especially after he considered being Robert Kennedy Jr.’s vice presidential nominee in his 2024 presidential bid earlier this year.
