The Jets and Washington will get their three-game preseason schedules started against each other at MetLife Stadium on Saturday in the earliest summer kickoff (shortly after 12 noon ET) in franchise history. In meteorological "celebration," perhaps, the vestiges of Hurricane Debby are out in the Atlantic Ocean now and game weather is expected to be sunny with temperatures in the mid-70s.

And we will soon learn which Jets starters and which Green & White second- and third-unit players will be handling the workload against the Commanders and their new head coach, Dan Quinn, who hails from Morristown, NJ, just up the road from the Jets' training center in Florham Park.

"I think even DQ — and I don't want to speak for him, but you know, he's been a head coach before — but it just depends on what your team is," Saleh said of his decisions to start or not start many of the players who will be relied on as starters and key contributors once the regular season begins in a month.

"My first year here, we had a very young team that needed to play, new system. We're going on year four now, especially with defense. We've got some veterans and so it's just not as important, you get a lot of good work here in practice, so it really depends on where your team is. It's not a matter of they should play just to play. It's more in terms of getting the work in that you need to with the ultimate goal of being prepared for week one."

Saleh has already declared that Aaron Rodgers will sit out at least the first two summer games. Assuming veteran backup Tyrod Taylor gets the starting nod, he would be making the 23rd preseason start of his 14-year NFL career and the Jets would be his seventh different NFL team as a summer starter.

But as far as unveiling Taylor's game status, Saleh said, "I know, but I'm going to talk to those guys before I let them find out on the internet."

The coach said Rodgers' possible start in the Jets' summer finale against the Giants is still up in the air. A "collaborative effort" that will include the future Hall of Famer's input into the conversation will take place in a few weeks.

Another veteran who won't play vs. Washington is WR Mike Williams, who just returned from the Active/PUP list to participate in Thursday's individual drills and Friday's walk-through but is still likely "a couple of weeks" away from team drills.

A few Jets on the refurbished offensive line could also see limited or no action, although Saleh remarked only that RG Alijah Vera-Tucker could be held out because "he's been on a limited-play basis anyway." Whether the Jets' new "senior citizens" bookend tackles, Tyron Smith at LT and Morgan Moses at RT, get a few snaps remains to be seen.

But at some point early on, Jets fans will get to see the 2024 rookie class take the reins vs. Washington, with first-round tackle Olu Fashanu, WR Malachi Corley and RBs Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis leading the charge in Saturday's lidlifter.

More than an hour before gametime, the Jets released their not-expected-to-play list for this game, which did include Rodgers, Smith, Moses, Vera-Tucker and Williams. Others on the list, alphabetically: S Tony Adams, CB Michael Carter II, S Chuck Clark, TE Tyler Conklin, S Ashtyn Davis, CB Sauce Gardner, WR Xavier Gipson, RB Breece Hall, OL Jake Hanson, LB Jermaine Johnson, DL Javon Kinlaw, WR Allen Lazard, LB C.J. Mosley, CB D.J. Reed, TE Jeremy Ruckert, LB Jamien Sherwood, G John Simpson, WR Malik Taylor, DL Solomon Thomas, QB Jordan Travis, LB Quincy Williams, DL Quinnen Williams and WR Garrett Wilson.

As far as the Commanders' starting signal-caller, all signs point to Jayden Daniels, the second overall pick of the April draft, to get the ball ahead of veteran Marcus Mariota. The Jets saw Daniels in the teams' combined practice at One Jets Drive on Thursday and Pro Bowl CB Sauce Gardner was impressed: "He's going to be nice. ... As a corner, you want to go against a rookie quarterback, but he's one of those guys, he's developed."