Aaron Rodgers Misses Jets Mini Camp: Crisis Inside?
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00:00But Donnie, this week, mandatory minicamp around the National Football League.
00:07In the main story, whether he likes it or not, that's Aaron Rodgers for the New York
00:12Jets.
00:13Robert Sala, the head coach of gangrene, was the one to tell us on Monday afternoon that
00:18Aaron Rodgers was not there this week for the New York Jets.
00:22Maybe it was Tuesday afternoon, regardless of what it was.
00:26Robert Sala back at the podium yesterday to give us the update on Aaron Rodgers.
00:32Talked about it yesterday, but Aaron and I are on the exact same page.
00:38There's no issue between Aaron or his teammates for that matter.
00:42So like I said, we addressed it yesterday.
00:45It's more of an issue for everyone outside the building than it is inside, and that's
00:50about it.
00:53That's crisis management.
00:55That is trying to control the narrative after the narrative has already spun.
00:58They're not on the same page.
00:59If they were on the same page, it'd be an excused absence.
01:02It was an unexcused absence when Robert Sala brought us the notification on Tuesday afternoon
01:07that Aaron Rodgers was going to miss both practices this week for the New York Jets.
01:11They're not on the same page.
01:12I don't care what he says.
01:13They're not on the same page, and you can see that.
01:16You're supposed to cover for your athletes here to keep those questions at bay, because
01:20you could easily say this was an excused absence, and I always use this.
01:23Tom Brady, when he left camp for the Buccaneers on a last spur of the minute, you know what
01:27Todd Bowles got up in front of that microphone and said?
01:29We've known about this for months, when everybody knew it was BS.
01:32You deflect those questions, and also, if it was an unexcused or an excused absence,
01:37why is it such a big secret on what he's actually doing here?
01:41Because if it would have been something like this, Ben, like, hey, look, his mother or
01:44his father is going through a medical procedure.
01:47He thought it would be best if he disclosed them.
01:49Not a single person would have absolutely questioned that as well.
01:52Or if, look, Aaron's best friend in the world asked him to be his best man, and he's having
01:57a wedding in Jamaica at this point.
02:00He had to be there.
02:01Nobody would question that one bit.
02:02But the fact of the matter is, it's probably like, well, why isn't he here?
02:05Well, to be honest, he had a nonrefundable deposit on a shaman down in South America
02:10that's going to feed him ayahuasca and can only do it on a 48-hour period here and no
02:15other time.
02:16That's probably what's going on right now, and they just can't release it because the
02:19carnival would start at that point.
02:21It's got to be something like that.
02:23Or he's stumping for his true best friend, Robert Kennedy Jr.
02:28It is so crazy when you think about what this is.
02:31And there's been reports from people that are either in the know or just individuals
02:36that might be within NFL circles about, oh, it's going to blow your mind when everybody
02:41hears where Aaron Rodgers is.
02:43Is he hiding underground in a bunker?
02:46All of this has spun out of control.
02:49And again, as we said, speaking about this yesterday, from a football perspective, it
02:55is not a big deal.
02:56Aaron Rodgers has been there for the entirety of the offseason program outside of the one
03:01thing that has mandatory labeled in front of it.
03:05So are they going to miss a beat come training camp or week number two because Aaron Rodgers
03:09missed minicamp and these two practices this week in Florham Park?
03:13Probably not.
03:14Is it going to affect the amount of offensive points the New York Jets scored this year
03:18overall?
03:19No.
03:20Is it going to knock off their win total by a win?
03:22No.
03:23But it does mean something when the face of the franchise that you have invested everything
03:28in decides whatever the reason is, is more important than football.
03:34Aaron Rodgers has been asked extensively over the last few seasons if he was going to walk
03:40away from football, if it was the number one thing in his life.
03:43And he has constantly said to us, yes, I remain completely invested in this sport and
03:49being the best quarterback I can be false.
03:52You are a phony.
03:53You are lying through your teeth.
03:55Whatever the reason was, it wasn't as if Donnie New York Jets moved their mandatory minicamp
04:01within a 72 hour window.
04:03Last second notice to put it here on June 11th and June 12th.
04:08These are not dates that move with flexibility of canceling last second plans.
04:13So whatever the decision was, mandatory minicamp be in X location, probably like you mentioned
04:19somewhere down in South America, getting into Ayahuasca, whatever that decision was for
04:24Aaron Rodgers.
04:25He said that whatever this is, it's more important than football and leading this New York Jets
04:30organization.
04:32It's as simple as that.
04:33Yes, it is.
04:35It really is.
04:36And like, even if it was, oh, my foundation has a golf tournament that I have to be there
04:40and, you know, it's the only date we could.
04:42There's so many reasons where people would not care.
04:44But the fact of the matter is also, you know, the organization is upset with Aaron Rodgers.
04:49This might be a first at this point where they're just openly letting this float into
04:53the wind instead of kiboshing it.
04:55Hey, by the way, you know, they could even said anything.
04:57And all of a sudden, day one shows up with that mandatory minicamp.
05:00Where's Aaron Rodgers?
05:01Excused absence.
05:02Came up late.
05:03You know, he's got a personal issue to deal with.
05:05Nobody would have cared after that.
05:06But the fact that your head coach is sitting up there going like, absolutely, we'll be
05:09fine.
05:10Unexcused absence.
05:11And we'll move on from here.
05:12And then the next day, go like, of course, we're on the same page.
05:15Like, my guy told me he can't be a football camp for some outrageous reason.
05:19Cool.
05:20It's fine.
05:21Everybody's here working hard.
05:22My quarterback is away.
05:23That doesn't jive the same way.
05:24You're supposed to cover where your superstar athletes are there, even if you don't want
05:28to.
05:29That is your job.
05:30So he's finally rubbing some people the wrong way, which is pretty impressive, where he's
05:34the reason why this entire coaching staff and general manager probably are still employed
05:38with the New York Jets.
05:39And now they're not covering for the guy.
05:41Again, it's been put in the big picture.
05:43This won't mean anything in September, and nobody's going to care.
05:46But the fact that nothing is really going on much in the NFL landscape, this is the
05:50topic we're going to hit on.
05:52Why?
05:53Because the Jets did this to themselves at this point.
05:55That's all.
05:56And if it wasn't excused absence, even if the reason was a little bit vague or lame,
06:02we all would have been like, that's a little bit strange.
06:04But it would have been a talking point maybe for an hour on Tuesday, certainly not being
06:09rehashed on a Thursday, where Robert Sala has to do damage control.
06:13And I feel bad for Sala.
06:15Man, the guy has been thrust into some tough situations with welcoming in Aaron Rodgers
06:20and the disaster that was a season ago.
06:23Zach Wilson's going to start.
06:24He's our guy.
06:25Zach Wilson is gone.
06:26He's going to be benched.
06:27Zach Wilson is back.
06:29He hasn't exactly been the best figurehead and frankly, let's call it what it is.
06:33A head coach is the representation of your franchise.
06:36It's not just X's and O's.
06:38It's not just schematics.
06:39It's not just football management.
06:41You have to be out there in the public eye.
06:44And Robert Sala hasn't really handled it very well.
06:47But let's also not mince words.
06:49Every other significant member for the New York Jets outside of Hassan Redick, who wants
06:53a new contract, it can deal with money and it's not there because of that.
06:57Is that mandatory minicamp?
06:59But their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, will leave it at that.
07:03The Minnesota Vikings have their spring offseason program coming to a close this week and when
07:08they return in July for training camp, Kevin O'Connell telling reporters yesterday, Donnie,
07:14that Sam Darnold and not the 10th overall pick, the Rook, J.J. McCarthy is going to
07:19be the guy getting the reps mainly with the ones as their starting quarterback.
07:24They haven't filled out a depth chart just yet, but they are going to start with Sam
07:28Darnold as the starter.
07:31Yeah, I take a deep breath on this one, too, because this has a lot of the feels.
07:34Remember the Chicago Bears?
07:35Hey, Justin Fields is in town.
07:37They tweet out a picture QB one baby.
07:39Andy Dalton was like, stop the madness here.
07:41So what you're so here's me being a cynic right now at this.
07:44I go, oh, looks like you drafted McCarthy.
07:46And, you know, maybe you don't like what you see already from some of those workouts.
07:49And maybe he can't compete when you draft a quarterback in round number one to be your
07:54franchise guy. You install him day one as your starter and give him the confidence that
07:58you are the man. Don't worry about the mistakes you make.
08:01You are the leader of this team for the next five to 10 years.
08:03Let's go out and win some football games.
08:05Not, hey, by the way, earn your stripes here.
08:08You're going to start at number two.
08:09See if you can work your way to one.
08:10Stop the madness, Minnesota.
08:12Put him one and let him go.
08:14It's why you drafted him.
08:16Absolutely so.
08:17Sure, you paid Sam Darnold ten million dollars on this one year deal, but the days of
08:22rookie quarterbacks learning behind vets are long gone.
08:25Certainly not learning behind Sam Darnold.
08:28More on the early live now.