The Jets didn’t handle the chaos well? Although the incident of Aaron Rodgers’ mandatory absence happened quite some time ago, it is still a hot topic in the media. The New York Jets tried to handle A-Rod’s situation calling it an “unexcused” absence. As a result, the team and the quarterback faced a lot of hullabaloos.

Even when the 4-time MVP himself appeared to reveal the reason, the chaos didn’t stop. It turned into an uproar where many speculated about A-Rod’s sincerity towards the team and Super Bowl aim. However, according to the Jets’ fan and sports analyst, Rich Eisen, the fault is with the franchise and not Rodgers!

Is it mismanagement?

In a recent episode of The Rich Eisen Show on July 22, 2024, the host reacted to Aaron Rodgers’ comment on his “unexcused” OTA absence. Before delving into the topic, Eisen played a clip of Rodgers, who recently appeared on Barstool Sports’ ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast. In the interview, the quarterback mentioned that mini-camps used to be more structured, with five practices over three days. Now, teams can label any week of OTAs as a “mini camp,” making it seem more mandatory. Rodgers suggested his absence was blown out of proportion by the media since he missed only two days of what was essentially an OTA.

Hence, Eisen acknowledged Rodgers’ point and speculated that if the Jets knew about Rodgers’ planned trip to Egypt, they could have designated a different week as mandatory. This way, Rodgers could have taken his trip without issue. Eisen also noted that the Jets might have avoided labeling the absence as unexcused to prevent other players from making similar requests. He concluded that the situation was unnecessarily complicated and could have been avoided easily .

Eisen expressed, “The whole thing is weird. Well it’s weird, because it was avoidable right?….this would have been a much smaller version of what the Lakers did by potentially drafting Bronny [James] for LeBron [James]. You’re helping make employee number one a lot happier in his dotage years in the remaining window of chance for you and the franchise to win it all together.” According to the reports, sports agent Rich Paul “absolutely manipulated the system as best he could to get Bronny to the Lakers” arguably for the sake of the NBA star’s happiness.

So, all in all, as per Eisen, the Jets could have handled the chaos properly, instead of letting the media and many to criticize the absence. Nevertheless, one thing seemed fine that the team wasn’t affected by what happened at the minicamp.

‘Zero impact’ on the team!

In an interview with NFL Insider, Tom Pelissero, on July 19, 2024, Jets’ defensive end Jermaine Johnson revealed that Aaron Rodgers’ absence had zero impact on the team. He simply put, “That man is a Hall of Famer….” and “he’s been stepping up and being earlier for this team, as everybody expects him to be….So I mean zero impacts” on the team because of Rodgers’ absence.

He added, “We didn’t care. He had stuff he had to handle.” Additionally, Johnson made sure to highlight that the entire team has full faith in their quarterback and are prepared for the 2024 season with the 40-year-old.

On the other hand, Rodgers too is ready for the battle, as he already stated, “we are a team to watch this year.”