There’s something different about Jets’ training camp this year.
Practices have been more physical and strenuous in preparation for the 2024 season.
“I would say the camp is much harder this year, and maybe the hardest in the last seven or eight in my career,” Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers said on Tuesday. “I knew that, I had a little insight coming into camp that that’s what Robert [Saleh] wanted to do, so I think it’s been good for us you know?
“There’s a lot of different schools of thought, and there’s always people you can scapegoat as far as injuries and different things, but I think some of the older guys enjoy, to steal a coaching word, the ‘callus’ part of training camp, where you’re kind of grinding, and some people believe that, while it puts more strain on you in training camp, it actually gets you more ready to play when the season starts, and then some people believe the opposite.
“You know how it goes, whatever teams are having success, people kind of look at their schedule and go, ‘let’s do that,’ but 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.”
According to Rodgers, the Jets have taken 300 more practice snaps than they had at this time a year ago. Considering Rodgers is coming off an Achilles tear he suffered four plays into the Jets’ season opener against the Bills last year, this is an excellent sign of where he is physically less than three weeks before their Week 1 game against the 49ers.
“We are not trying to revisit the Junction Boys,” Saleh said of legendary coach Bear Bryant’s training camp that was the subject of both a book and a movie . “But at the same time, this country club style that’s taken on all sport, not just football but all of sports, there’s a fine line. They gotta be ready to play football.”
During training camp, Rodgers has had zero physical restrictions. He has participated in 14 of 16 practices after missing Tuesday’s session and the joint practice against the Commanders on Aug. 8 because of rainy weather. Rodgers did practice in last week’s joint practice against the Panthers in Charlotte.
“We’ve made an effort to be a little bit more efficient about how we work day-to-day with our guys, Saleh said. “Because of that, our workload is significantly more than it has been in the past. Obviously, I think it’s been beneficial anytime you can practice playing football, you can get better at playing football and I think our guys have responded awesome to it.
“I think they’re starting to feel the difference and how important all these reps have been. I think they’re feeling it, especially as we’ve gone through these joint practices. They are leaving these practices more and more confident.”
The method to Saleh’s madness probably won’t be clear until after the season begins. For the last two years, the Jets have faced challenging hurdles during the middle of the season, including multiple losing streaks that knocked the team out of playoff contention.
Meanwhile, throughout training camp, Rodgers has shown flashes of his previous form before his devastating injury. Not only has he been effective in finding open receivers, but Rodgers continues to gain chemistry with Garrett Wilson.
However, Rodgers and the Jets had their worst practice of training camp on Monday after he completed 10 of 26 passes with an interception. It remains to be seen if Rodgers or any Jets starters will play in the preseason finale against the Giants on Saturday. Saleh says he knows what the Jets will do regarding playing the starters but declined to elaborate.
The Jets did not have any offensive starters play in the first two preseason games against the Commanders and Panthers outside of center Joe Tippmann.
Saleh says he feels like Rodgers was ready for the season when he came into training camp.
“He has plenty of mobility, he showed that in Carolina getting out of the pocket several times in practice,” Saleh said about Rodgers. “I think he is absolutely ready to go.”