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What if Aaron Rodgers had walked away from the NFL after last year’s torn Achilles injury
He could have easily done that.
Achilles injuries are tough to come back from for 22-year-old football players, so can you image what it’s like for a 40-year old QB?
So the soon to be 41-year-old QB, could have easily said, “I’m out.”
Man, would the Jets be in trouble right now if he decided to do that.
But he didn’t.
And the Jets are blessed that he didn’t.
So my point is this – forget the missed minicamp at this point.
Look, I’m not saying it was an ideal thing for him to miss the minicamp, and I will get into something related to that in a minute, but if the QB, who the Jets are fortunate to have right now, decided he needed to be somewhere else for those two days, after being there the whole spring, so be it.
He knows what he needs to do to get ready.
If he felt he needed those two days off, is the sky falling? Just consider the cost-benefit analysis of having him, even if he can be a little different at times than your conventional player.
We still don’t know exactly what he was doing during camp, but maybe whatever it was, had to be done in that window.
Perhaps we will find out soon or perhaps we will never find out.
But the point is, if he felt he needed to do it, perhaps people should defer to him on that.
Because, once again, he’s doing the Jets a solid by still playing at his age. He doesn’t need the money.
So to me, when you have a QB his age, and with his resume, my attitude is kind of, “Man, what you think you need to do to get ready, we’re cool with.”
I’m serious.
Where the hell would they be right now without him?
And with him at QB, and with one of the weakest Jets schedules I’ve ever seen, a monster season is not out of the question. I’m not saying Super Bowl bound, but one of the better records we’ve seen in a long time with this team is quite possible. Something like 12-5 is certainly possible. Rodgers is clearly better than almost every QB they will face, sans Josh Allen, and that could be considered a toss-up.
The biggest problem with the minicamp absence was this, and I’ve written this before:
They didn’t get as much out of the practices compared to he was there, especially on defense.
Yes, on defense.
That might sound weird, but how many times have we heard Jets defenders talk about how much it helps them facing Rodgers in practice? I’ve lost count.
I just happened to review a Chuck Clark press conference from the spring, and the veteran safety brought up that point.
Reserve QB Tyrod Taylor is a solid backup and a great teammate, but he has a proclivity to check down a lot and scramble, and check-down passes and running are kind of wasted reps for a defense in the spring, especially the secondary players and coverage linebackers.
The spring is time for experimenting. Don’t be so conservative. Give teammates a chance to make plays, on both sides of the balls.
But with a full training camp coming, the Jets will live to see another day following Rodgers missing a couple of days.
However, getting back to my overarching point here – man, are they lucky to have him, so whatever he needs to do mentally and physically, at his age, to get ready for a 17-game season, they should be cool with.
He knows what he needs to do to get ready.
July 1, 2024
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