It would have been going on now, but it was canceled.
The Jets veteran minicamp was scheduled for June 13-15, but head coach Robert Saleh called it off, and here is his explanation of why:
“With the Hall of Fame game, we’re reporting a week earlier than everybody else and guys need to get away. We’ve been here, they’ve put in a really good off-season, all the guys have since April, so April, May, June. Just to give the guys an extra week to go take their break because you need a week off and then you got to rev back up to get ready for the season. Having this extra week, taking the week off, then the Fourth of July, there’s just a lot of things that can mess up the flow, but we’ll pick it up and we’ll regain it once we get back for the Hall of Fame Game.”
Some thought this decision wasn’t ideal.
“I think it’s a calculated mistake,” said former NFL GM Mike Lombardi on VSIN. “This notion of rest. It sounds very analytical to me or someone who has never put a team together is telling him in his ear. I don’t understand it. I don’t see why. I know Aaron Rodgers needs not to be overworked and I know Duane Brown, but the Jets are a young team who have had 13 playoff appearances since 1968 when they won the Super Bowl.”
Lombardi worked under New England’s Bill Belichick and San Francisco’s Bill Walsh among others during his career.
“People say came from (Bill) Belichick, but what would Bill Walsh do? I worked for him too. Walsh believed in player development. That first year we’re going to teach the player the system. In the second year, we were developing the skills within the system. He would not pass up an opportunity to develop the skills within the system. You have to push people further than they expect to go and if you are giving out rewards before the season even starts, are you really going to be demanding?”
Hey, if the Jets have a great season, the criticism by a select few on Saleh canceling minicamp camp will be moot.
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