I’m going to address this again, even though I already did once , because for some reason the media, the fans and people I interact with on social media won’t let it go. The molehill has been officially made into a mountain and yet, it still makes zero difference that Aaron Rodgers didn’t show up to mandatory minicamp.
Zero. None. It doesn't matter where he was, or where we imagine he was .
I can already hear your arguments to the contrary, so let me take them one at a time.
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Aaron Rodgers doesn’t care
This is the dumbest argument I get more than any other. “Aaron Rodgers doesn’t care.” If he doesn’t care, then why did he show up to nearly every organized team activity for the past two off seasons including voluntary workouts from day one ? Because he cares. He cares about winning and shouldn’t that be the only thing the Jets and their fans care about after 13 years of missing the playoffs?
He only thinks about himself
Let me ask this – who cares? If there is someone who wants to be remembered as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time because they are only thinking of himself, don’t you think it would benefit that person to take a downtrodden franchise like the New York Jets to the playoffs and beyond? I mean, if all he cares about is himself, then I say we ride his selfish coattails to the mountain top.
He said last year to get rid of all the bulls*it and focus on football
He did. He meant it. But he didn’t mean “don’t live your life”. This is a classic case of taking a comment out of context and hammering that square peg into the round hole. What he meant was to stop going to the media with team problems. He wanted the internal workings of the team to stay internal and for anonymous sources to stop airing the team’s dirty laundry in public. The quote starts with “anything in this building that we’re doing individually or collectively that has nothing to do with real winning needs to be assessed.” Anything “in this building”. It was a shot at how the team dealt with issues as opposed to anything else.
He sucks now, and he is old and coming off an injury
This may be true. But even if the Jets or Rodgers are terrible this year, I can guarantee it has nothing to do with him missing two practices in June.
He missed all of last year and he needs to develop chemistry with his receivers
First off, he isn’t going to build chemistry in two 90-minute practices. Secondly, which receivers does he need to build chemistry with? Lazard? The guy he played with for years in Green Bay? How about Mike Williams? He’s not practicing yet. Malachi Corley? He isn’t working with the first team yet and it seems like Rodgers is helping the rookie as much as he can so far. Garrett Wilson? They have spent months working together already. So, him missing two 90-minute practices of throwing with no pads on to Irv Charles isn’t going to make or break the season.
He's creating a rift with his teammates and is a terrible leader
Robert Saleh, Sauce Gardner, D.J. Reed and Breece Hall all came to Aaron Rodgers’ defense calling this exactly what it is: a media storm made up for nothing.
"He's still trying to come back, still get back to feeling right from his injury and everything. I know he's working his tail off," Breece Hall told reporters. "Whether he's here or not, I know he's all in."
The players don’t seem to take issue with it.
Rodgers is an ass, went on Tucker Carlson, didn’t take the vaccine, is conspiracy theorist or whatever other non-football reason you don’t like him
You don’t have to like him. I don’t think I like him. I also don’t care what he believes, what he says or what he does that has nothing to do with football. I’m not one of those people who get my values from athletes and celebrities. I’ll be really quick to like him in the playoffs and really quick to hate him if the Jets miss the playoffs.
Essentially, it doesn’t matter. If you like him, you are going to find a reason to defend him. If you hate him, you are going to find a reason to crush him. But what I won’t do, is use something like him missing two days of practice in June as an excuse to say “this is why he is a bad teammate and the Jets will stink”.
Aaron Rodgers is one of the most polarizing figures in today’s NFL. He is both loved and hated within almost every fan base. Because of that, he generates a lot of interest with every move he makes or doesn’t make. I listen to some of the stuff he says, and I shake my head. But my feelings on Aaron Rodgers will be tied to his play on the field, rather than the nonsense around it.
Related: One Player not named Aaron Rodgers who can change the Jets 2024 season
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