Why former GM is worried about Jets' Aaron Rodgers

Much has been made about what quarterback Aaron Rodgers skipping the New York Jets' two-day mandatory minicamp because of "a pre-planned trip to Egypt" means for the club ahead of training camp.

During Thursday's edition of the ESPN "Get Up" program, former NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum made it known he's much more concerned about the fact that Rodgers missed almost all of last season with a torn Achilles the signal-caller suffered months before he turned 40 years old in December.

"I'm really curious to see in training camp -- we'll see what he does in the preseason -- how quickly he gets rid of the ball in short-area quickness with his feet," Tannenbaum said. "I've been around other quarterbacks...they always talked about losing that little quickness really was the beginning of the end [of their careers]. And that's something that we really got to watch carefully, really just in a couple of weeks."

According to Pro Football Reference, Rodgers finished the 2022 regular season (his last with the Green Bay Packers) ranked 27th in the NFL among qualified players with a 41.3 adjusted QBR and tied for 18th with a 45.1 passing success rate. He suffered a broken thumb on his throwing hand in Week 5 of that campaign and later went down with a rib injury in Week 12.

Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic wrote for a piece published on June 17 that Rodgers "looked like Rodgers on the practice field" during voluntary springtime workouts.

Meanwhile, ESPN analyst Bill Barnwell said during Thursday's show he feels the 2024 Jets can be "a legit Super Bowl contender" as long as Rodgers and other key contributors stay healthy.

Assuming the Jets work things out with star pass-rusher Haason Reddick this summer, they should again be strong on that side of the ball. ESPN stats show that the Jets finished the 2023 season ranked third in the league in total defense (292.3 yards allowed per game).

As of Thursday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Rodgers as the betting favorite at +125 odds to win the Comeback Player of the Year Award for the upcoming season.

If he plays at such a level and stays healthy through Week 18, the Jets should at least end the longest active postseason drought among the four major North American sports leagues.