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Some were surprised by this decision . . .
Today would have been the first day of the Jets’ mandatory minicamp. It was scheduled for June 13-15. But last week Robert Saleh canceled it. Here is his rationale:
“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. Guess who we are about to quote:
“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.”
Maybe I quote Lombardi too much, but does anybody who covers this team offer this kind of pointed commentary on decisions like this?
The coverage has too often turned into a milquetoast echo chamber.
“What is the energy like in the building with Aaron Rodgers?” That is the kind of stuff you usually get.
Here is more from Lombardi on why he has an issue with the mandatory minicamp being canceled.
“I came from a program about hard work,” Lombardi said. “People you 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?”
He makes some decent points. Let’s go back to the first part of the quote. If you want to take it easy on 39-year-old Rodgers or 37-year-old Brown this time of year, that is fine, but couldn’t rookies Joe Tippmann and Carter Warren have used the work in the mandatory minicamp? What about young veterans learning a new offense?
Look, the amount of time you can spend with players on the field in the spring and summer was cut back in the new CBA signed in 2021. So as far as I’m concerned, you don’t give anything back, because it’s so limited to start with, compared to the old days.
Hey, if the Jets have a great season, the criticism by a select few on Saleh canceling minicamp camp will be moot.
But what did Lombardi say that was so out of line?
June 13, 2023
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