Even though it’s the offseason, the press is never too far away from an Aaron Rodgers story and the latest concerns the decision made by the New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh to take the veteran quarterback out of their joint practice session with the Washington Commanders.Rodgers, who turns 41 in December, missed all of last season (bar a few snaps in his debut game for the Jets since his move from the Green Bay Packers) due to Achilles issues, but now he’s working his way to full fitness for the new campaign.The Jets, who have, of course, missed out on postseason action every season since 2010, will clearly need Rodgers firing on all cylinders to help bring that astonishing run to an end and treating him with kid gloves ahead of NFL Gameweek 1 sounds like a fair plan to me.Supporters of the New York Jets who are hopeful that the MetLife Stadium franchise can turn things around might want to place a bet on their team, in which case the insights and offers you can access here in relation to all things New Jersey sports betting related could come in very handy indeed.45-year-old Saleh is tasked with getting the Jets back into contention when it comes to the playoffs, and he goes into his fourth season in charge of the team off the back of back-to-back 7-10 regular season records, which are, to be fair, a marked improvement on his debut record of 4-13. On his decision not to use Rodgers in the joint practice with the Commanders, Saleh explained,
“He’s taken every rep in practice, so I felt like it was just unnecessary, heightened environment, unfamiliar foes in terms of taking care of one another,” “I just didn’t want to expose him to it, if it was a game, if it was a practice, if it was clean outside, he would’ve practiced today. Call it overprotection, but it was just the decision I made.” “He pushed back. He wanted to go,” “But in the grand scheme of things, we’re trying to think forward thinking with regards to Week 1, and we’ve got a long way for that. We’ll have other opportunities coming up with Carolina and the Giants.” Saleh added.There is a chance that Rodgers will take part in the Jets’ clash with the New York Giants in their final pre-season game, with the season itself kicking off on September 9th, with Saleh’s side traveling to Levi’s Stadium to face the San Francisco 49ers before another road trip to the Tennessee Titans ahead of their first game on home soil, week three’s clash with the New England Patriots. It appears when it comes to the way in which Saleh manages Rodgers, there are some detractors, most notably in recent days in the form of ex-Jets head coach Herm Edwards, who commented,"Last time I checked, football players play football. They play football for a living, so you can't say, 'I'm to protect him now.' Protect him from what? He's a football player. That's what they do, they play football. It's called tackle football," Edwards said before adding,"Aaron Rodgers, he should have practiced today. I get it's raining. Mike [Tannenbaum] makes a good point. It could be raining the first game of the season,"
By Chris Bates
