Packers Super Bowl champion explains why he’s not “tripping” off Aaron Rodgers’ missing mandatory minicamp
It's been a pretty eventful offseason for Aaron Rodgers, all things considered.
Between recovery from a torn Achilles tendon and nearly being named as a running mate for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign, Rodgers has been in the headlines nearly every week. Over the past month, however, those headlines have been a little more NFL-centric for one reason and one reason only.
Last month, Rodgers missed all of the New York Jets' mandatory minicamp. Reports later revealed that Rodgers had already booked a trip during those dates and didn't plan on missing his trip (which we later learned was to Egypt). The four-time NFL MVP's absence was then listed as an unexcused one, which means the franchise will have to fine their star quarterback.
Naturally, Rodgers' unexcused absence became a talking point all month long. There were voices on both sides of the fence but it was only natural that Rodgers' teammates past and present would have his back.
Appearing on FS1's Speak this week, former Packers WR James Jones made his opinion clear on Rodgers missing minicamp. Jones said:
“I’m proud of my dude for taking some time to himself, planning his trip, to go to Egypt. Because he’s been at everything.
"If I’ve been at everything for the last two years, and I’m a four-time MVP, All-Pro, whatever you want to say, if I’m all that, I deserve to get two days. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been the ultimate teammate when I’m hurt, when I’m not hurt, all of that. I messed up, however y’all want to look at it. But I’m gone."
The Packers Super Bowl champion added that he was not 'tripping' off Rodgers missing minicamp.
"I don’t think this is going to be a defining moment to where the Jets go to the Super Bowl because of this or where the Jets win five games because of this,” Jones opined.
Julian Edelman on the opposite side of the fence in debate around Aaron Rodgers' mandatory minicamp absence
One man who did not quite subscribe to the theory that missing mandatory minicamp was all okay is Julian Edelman.
On The Herd with Colin Cowherd last month, Edelman said that it was a 'bad look' for Rodgers to go missing.
Edelman said:
If they start 4-0, no one’s going to care. But this is the NFL. It’s a bad look for your leader, for whatever reason, to go on an unexcused absence.
"I was with Tom Brady. In his later years, he started missing OTAs here and there but he never missed a mandatory minicamp."