It’s safe to say that Julian Edelman does not approve of Aaron Rodger’s absence at New York Jets minicamp.
The former New England Patriots receiver spoke about Rodgers during an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, stating that his absence from the team is a “bad look.”
“I think it’s a bad look for your leader, for whatever reason, to go and miss [a mandatory minicamp],” Edelman said “I was with Tom Brady in his 25th year or 23rd year, and he started missing OTAs here and there, but he never missed a mandatory minicamp. I just thought it was a bad look.”
Edelman continued by saying that his teammates could question his leadership, especially considering how important these practices are to developing chemistry.
“I’m a big Aaron Rodgers fan, but if I was in that locker room, and Aaron Rodgers wasn’t there for three days on the mandatory minicamp, having played four snaps off of an injury when we have two new receivers, a bunch of new linemen that we added to the team, with a CBA that doesn’t allow us to practice a lot, I guarantee there’s four or five guys — six, seven, eight, nine guys in that locker room — sitting there like, ‘Where’s he at?'” Edelman said.
Rodgers missed multiple days of mini camp and his absence was described as “unexcused.” The reason has not been revealed, although SNY’s Connor Hughes reported that Rodgers doesn’t want the reason to be known due to “security reasons.”
He missed virtually all of the 2023 season after suffering a torn Achilles early in the Jets season opener. New York had high hopes for the season after acquiring Rodgers, but his absence coincided with the team struggling to a 7-10 record and missing out on the postseason for the 13th consecutive season.
Those hopes will be translated to this season when he is hopefully healthy, but the early absence does provide some stress to the situation.