As the New York Jets wrapped up minicamp in June, Aaron Rodgers was thousands of miles away in the early stages of a trip to Egypt he’d planned months before. As the NFL world — or, at least, the NFL media world — roundly criticized him for skipping mandatory practice, Rodgers experienced private tours of pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza. He watched the sun set, the moon rise and rode a camel through the desert.
“Not the nicest animal,” Rodgers said. “I’ve been around llamas before. I tried to make sure I stayed out of the way of any spit.”
It was a “special trip,” he said, in his first press conference since skipping mandatory minicamp — and thus incurring fines for the unexcused absence.
This was a trip Rodgers has had on his bucket list for “three decades,” he said, since he was in a “gifted and talented class” in elementary school where they learned about Egyptian and Greek mythology.
“Back in some of the doldrums of the rehab I thought it’d be fun to put together a trip with some friends,” he said.
He looked at the Jets minicamp schedule from last year and planned it around that. When the actual OTA schedule was released, Rodgers discovered his trip coincided with those mandatory practice days. “I tried to move some things around,” he said. “It just didn’t happen.”
So, he skipped minicamp — and incurred the wrath of the world outside of the Jets building. Inside the building it wasn’t such a big deal. Rodgers said he had a “great talk” with Jets coach Robert Saleh before the trip, who let him know he “wanted Rodgers to be there” at practice. He told his teammates he’d be gone too and “they understood.”
“I knew the consequences if I wasn’t going to be there. The reaction is what it is,” he said. “It was more of an issue outside of the building than inside … It is what it is. I’m an adult, I knew what I was getting into, I knew the fine that was coming and I also knew how much I wanted to be in Egypt.”
Well, now Rodgers is back stateside and a full-go on the practice field, no small feat considering he tore his Achilles 10 months ago. The noise around Rodgers’ trip to Egypt has quieted down (or will), and the focus for the Jets is on what’s in front of them. There is pressure on this team to win, right now, or a lot of notable people in the organization won’t be here next year — namely Rodgers, Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas.
“The goal is New Orleans,” Rodgers said, alluding to the location of this season’s Super Bowl. “That has to be the goal. The beauty is every single year there’s 8-12 teams — maybe, probably less — that can actually do it. We’re one of those 8-12.”
How did Rodgers look in his first practice of training camp? Here are some observations from Wednesday’s practice.
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Aaron Rodgers explains Egypt trip — and struggles in red zone: Jets’ first training-camp practice
