With heavy rain in the forecast prior to Thursday's Jets-Commanders joint practice, Jets HC Robert Saleh made it an early decision to keep QB Aaron Rodgers out of action.
"Woke up this morning and saw the weather," Saleh said. "He's taking every rep in practice, so I just felt it was unnecessary. Heightened environment, unfamiliar foes in terms of taking care of one another. I just didn't want to expose him to do it. … If it was clean outside, he would have practiced today. Call it overprotection, but it was just a decision that I made."
Rodgers, who has been full-go throughout training camp, is returning from an Achilles tendon tear he sustained four snaps into the 2023 season. He is also 40 years old and has appeared in 231 regular-season games along with 22 in the postseason. While Rodgers wanted to practice, Saleh is playing the long game with his star signal-caller.
"He pushed back," Saleh said. "He wanted to go, but in the grand scheme of things trying to keep forward thinking with regards to Week 1 and we got a long way for that. He'll have other opportunities coming up with Carolina and the Giants."
Downpours were heavy at times during the joint session. Saleh also considered resting RG Alijah Vera-Tucker, but AVT suited up and got in some work against the Commanders.
"The only other one was possibly AVT because he's kind of coming through the same thing, but he's on a different timeline," Saleh said of Vera-Tucker, who tore his Achilles tendon last October in Denver. "He's been managed on a limited play basis and he's 16 years younger, so that was the only other one we thought about."
Saleh says he's had "preliminary discussions" with Rodgers about whether he'll play in the third preseason game, against the Giants, but nothing has been decided.
"He's going to be included in the conversations along with the coordinators and Joe [Douglas] and we're going to make the best decision for the team," Saleh said.
To date this summer, the rain has been one of the few things that have slowed down Rodgers.
"I think he's in a great space mentally," Saleh said. "I keep telling people that his arm looks like he's 30, so he's chomping at the bit. He's ready to roll and he looks really good."
