Jets' Aaron Rodgers happy with this Robert Saleh change

NFL insider Dianna Russini of The Athletic mentioned in July that New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh would be " different " while facing a make-or-break season.

It turns out Saleh somewhat altered his handling of training-camp practices this summer, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers made it known on Tuesday he's in favor of the coach's strategy.

"I would say that camp is much harder this year, " Rodgers told reporters, as shared by Andy Vasquez of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. " And maybe the hardest of the last seven to eight of my career . I knew that. I had a little insight coming into camp that’s what Robert wanted to do. And I think it’s been good for us. "

The Jets have endured some struggles across practices, particularly regar ding the team's offense that routinely disappointed last season after Rodgers went down with a campaign-ending torn Achilles four offensive snaps into New York's Week 1 game.

Saleh seems to hope the extra work this summer will have his team firing on all cylinders for its regular-season opener at the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 9.

"I give Robert a lot of credit because he, from the start of the offseason, said this is going to be a tough training camp, " Rodgers explained on Tuesday. " And I think it’s been a lot of reps for the [starters]. He told me the other day we were somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 more reps at this point of camp than last year, and it feels like it, but it’s good. "

A big concern about a taxing camp is that players will either suffer injuries or enter September more banged up than normal. With that said, Rodgers dealt with multiple calf-related setbacks from the spring of 2023 through his first training camp with the Jets. It's unclear if those issues can be linked to his Achilles injury.

"It’s been great," Rodgers added about this year's camp compared to what he experienced in 2023. " You talk to the older guys, not a lot of complaints from any of those guys. And the young guys don’t know any better, so it’s been good. "

Rodgers, Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas could all be shown the door by Jets owner Woody Johnson if what's become the longest active playoff drought among the four major North American sports leagues extends beyond January 2025.

In short, Saleh may regret how he worked his players during training camp if Rodgers spends a significant portion of the upcoming season sidelined with some sort of injury.