New York Jets superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers is fighting to get through a grueling training camp that has been tougher for him to endure than any other of the last seven or eight years.
Rodgers, 40, is at a stage of his NFL career where he’ll need to pay special attention to his body to weather the storm of his advancing age. Approaching 20 years running in the league, the former four-time MVP and starter for 16 years approaches a 2024 season off the heels of his Achilles tear suffered in Week 1 of the 2023 campaign.
The California native has age, attrition, and a rather down year, by his standards, from 2022 all propped up as obstacles for him to overcome. Though, the process required to round back into his customary form has taken its toll on him.
Jets’ Aaron Rodgers feels good about his body despite his toughest training camp
Per ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Rodgers had this to say about the challenges he’s faced this summer in training camp and offered a silver lining that ought to give the Jets franchise and their fanbase reason to breathe a sigh of relief:
“I would say the camp is much harder this year and maybe the hardest in the last seven or eight of my career,” Rodgers said.
“I feel good about where I am with my body and what I’ve put together,” he continued. “I feel like I’ve done different things throughout camp as far as the rollouts, roll out and pulling up, getting out of the pocket and making plays, going back across my body, pump-faking and extending plays and getting some yards. I feel like I’ve done a lot.”
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Rodgers has under three weeks to get his body in game shape for Week 1
The toughness of Rodgers’ training camp could be in part due to its structure. Shortly after the 2023 campaign, Jets players weighed in on the job that head coach Robert Saleh had done that year for the NFLPA annual report card. They gave him a B grade for his efforts on the previous campaign, citing that he left something to be desired when it comes to being efficient with their time and being willing to listen to his troops in the locker room, per Brandyn Pokrass of Jets X Factor.
Coach Saleh, a straightforward and no-nonsense play-caller, may have upped the ante for the entire team this summer in the wake of that, especially considering the Super Bow implications that are hovering over their upcoming campaign, which could be contributing to the toil that Rodgers is working hard to get through.
The Cal product is set out to bounce back from a 2022 outing — the last full season he played — that saw his four-year streak of 4,000 yards passing snapped and his highest interception total (12) since his first year starting in the NFL all the way back in 2008. In order to return to form, he’ll need to feel comfortable doing the things he attested to, such as rolling out, escaping the pocket, and gaining yards when extending plays.
Rodgers has shown time and again how proficient he is when rolling out, making sharp reads on the fly, and has been perhaps the biggest down-field threat at his position with his arm when escaping the pocket, as well as with his legs when finding holes in the defensive line.
The expectation is that he will be able to gain comfortability with all of those mechanics while trusting his lower extremity enough to be the dominant dual-threat talent that he’s been for years on end for the Jets in 2024. He’ll be helped by a talented wide receiver room including Garrett Wilson and Mike Williams, a hungry emerging running back in Breece Hall, and a strong offensive line with All-Pro talent and top draft pick stock in its unit.
