“Weird and Awkward” – Rich Eisen on Jets’ Handling of Aaron Rodgers’ AWOL from Mandatory Minicamp

we began our show on Tuesday with the news that uh I was kind of surprised to hear that Aaron roders was not at the mandatory mini camp for the New York Jets he's not hurt there's no contractual dispute that would cause him to make a stance for not showing up he's also showed up for everything he was there at the outset of the um the offseason workout program he was there for the volunteer stuff he was there he's been there he's been present he's been talking he's been leading he's been doing all of that stuff and then um he also said at the end of last year's season that was a total loss season because his Achilles gave away um saying that um that anything that has nothing to do with winning all the BS needs to get out of the building and now he's out of the building for mandatory mini camp and just so anybody hears it my concern wasn't about week one my concern is the fact that the Jets called this in unexcused absence that Robert Salo said this is not an excused absence now leads to all of us to wonder what's up why isn't he there where is he Salah would only say it's at a place that he finds very important to go to do and and how Will Rogers take in in process handle deal with his first fullblown New York City Sports Talk 247 365 longtime listener first time caller Kur fuffle because that is exactly me listen born in Brooklyn raised in Staten Island listen to Mike and the Mad Dog for years while working for the Staten Island Advance I know exactly how New York fans think I know exactly what the front and or the back pages or if not front pages will handle it and that this would absolutely be something even though I don't believe when Aaron Rodgers does return and does show up in week one in the tunnel Monday Night Football Jets at ners he is back on a field his hard work in rehab is paid off to get him on the field this will not matter at all unless he doesn't trust the coaching staff unless he doesn't handle th this stuff with the media right but when it doesn't matter at all when he's in that tunnel I don't think it's going to matter at all that's what I thought yesterday that's what I wanted to set up today's conversation with that background information CU sure enough you saw the post in the daily news right on Q call him Aaron Dodgers was the back page of the daily news with an empty face and helmeted Aaron roders number eight QB suddenly disappears as Gang Green begins mandatory mini camp that's awesome New York Post full of hot air and they actually used that January quote about the BS that has nothing to do with winning needs to get out of the building that's January 8th Tuesday Rogers awall from Jet's first mandatory practice last year it was a Love Fest then he got hurt then he then then everything that happened with the Jets had nothing to do with him he was completely removed from this fry completely and totally removed from this Frey so now then Robert Salah steps to the podium today follow-up question what's up man what's up with that essentially hit it I think you're getting some blowback from media people about the use of the word unexcused and because you were okay with him not being here but you used the word unexcused so I wondering maybe if you could clarify why he used that word and also did you tell Ro did did Aaron know he was going to be termed unexcused and how he reacted to that no you're fine um talked about it yesterday but uh Aaron Aaron and I are on the exact same page page um there's no issue uh between Aaron or his teammates for that matter um so like I said we addressed it yesterday it's not it's it's more of an issue for for everyone outside the building than it is inside and um and that's about it before that he said uh he was asked were you aware that Aaron was not going to be here before yesterday is that correct Salah said yes followup and trod meaning the backup quarterback trod Taylor said he had only found out that morning about being the first team reps quarterback is there any reason that that wasn't communicated to him before Salah said nope it's a one-on-one conversation that's not something the team needed to know about another question there was a lot of craziness that came off of Aaron's absence yesterday as expected did you have any contact with him like talk to him between yesterday and today quote no I haven't okay so now then no no say it no no him because again there we we don't know where he is and we don't know what the term unexcused means and all of that stuff so before we before we start diving into all of this okay well I say what unexcused means is that it's something that the Jets just couldn't countenance calling excused because they were told by maybe some front office type or legal individual that if you call this excused now the doors are open to no mandatory mini camp will ever have teeth to it because you said even for this guy is excused right if it's just a vacation let's just find out what it is what is it sure and nature and New York media and Rogers haters and Bor NFL fans waiting for training camp to begin all of those folks abhor a vacuum so income spilling information first up let's put up Connor Hughes who covers the Jets for SNY he said that Rogers planned this trip while he was still rehabbing the Jets have known about it from the moment there was an overlap with the release of the mini camp schedule Rogers is quote unquote unexcused because you can't excuse a trip ah but not a contracted dispute which is Assan reik who's not there semantics but there's no unrest inside the building the Jets don't think it's a big deal not sure why the world is reacting differently oh boy Rogers missing these two days after being at every voluntary workout the last two years will have zero impact in what the Jets and Rogers accomplished this coming season so now couple things about that is if that that let's just take all of that as gospel not saying he's making any of this stuff up I'm just saying like if the Jets are he's getting this from somebody obviously within the building if the Jets don't think this is a big deal so the issue I have with all of this is the statement of they don't understand why people are viewing it differently it's just like do you do you not live in the New York metropolitan area I mean in all honesty do you do you not know what it's going to come across is like that all of a sudden out of the blue Rogers isn't there and it's called unexcused and if it is a trip let's just say it's something that Rogers planned when he was rehabbing and told the Jets about it you've had months to set the table you've also had an ability to potentially move the mandatory mini camp to last week when Rogers may not have the trip and you could have Avid all this stuff because you know if you're just going to come out of the blue and have your coach sit up there and say he's not here and it's not excused that there is going to be a major huge ass back page screaming headline or two or three to deal with and why would you want to deal with it even though as I've said by week one of this year when he's in the tunnel it's not going to matter juices will be flowing and he's going to want to beat the crap out of the San Francisco 49ers and do what he needs to do I'll be back that's number one though you had different ways to handle it why this way to handle it because it's possible Rogers will be viewing it that he's being made an example of for whatever reason after he's done everything else right because it also opens up him to this interpretation one of his favorites I I will just come out and sort of place tongue and cheek in this because I believe it was this reporter who Once Upon a Time said the Jets had a list from Rogers of players that he would like to see on the team and have fulfilled for his first year there and he pushed back considerably against Diana Rini then of ESPN now of the athletic she tweeted this out which is just a fascinating way to look at it but oh pardon me Diana Rini tweeted out the following let me get this for you here sorry we got a lot of moving Parts here I thought I had provided that but this is this is exactly the sort of thing that I think is an issue for Rogers she reported out Aaron Rogers is skipping all of Jet's mandatory mini camp this week because he prefers to be somewhere else away from football that's his choice because that's an interesting way to term it but every word of that is in fact describing the situation if it's not an emergency if it has been planned he has decided this is what it is and he's not there and part of the reason why maybe he's not talked to Robert Salah about all this is it's possible as you were talking about last hour TJ M he could be on one of his Retreats where he's got the offense he knows the offense the OC is there in name only essentially because he's got full complete Hardware software wiring into Roger his brain about what to set up play calling he's got this thing down pat he doesn't need two more days of this stuff the thing that's most important is for him to be somewhere to get his mind right and that that does dovetail into him not being in communication with anybody right now so if I'm not mistaken our friend Pat hasn't even said something on his show as to where Rogers is right yeah no Pat doesn't know so so that kind of dovetails into all of this if that's where he is right and I don't know where he is nobody knows where he is and it's all a guessing game and then you see what Chase Daniel my colleague at NFL Network tweeted out wait until you hear where Aaron Rogers is instead of with his teammates that's an expensive absence and then you didn't elaborate I don't know if that means I don't think he's going to get fined although the Jets there's reports that the Jets will find him but it's just weird and awkward and a very long mandatory mini camp for for the Jets right now and there's talking to members of the media they are all working out I'm sure to a man they all know where Aaron is and I'm sure in their minds it's an excused absence if that's what Aaron wants to do if I had a guess but for the Jets to just basically know about it see that the freight train media freight train is coming and then stand on the tracks and not jump off it and say Here's what we're going to do we're GNA send Robert Sal out there and he's going to call it an unexcused absence and then act like according to Conor he was apparently like well I cannot believe there's gambling going on in cablanca are you serious really you mean the New York media is going to take our coach calling Aaron roders in unexcused absence being awal and they're just they're going to they're going to make something of it the national media is going to make something of it so if Rogers is somewhere uh in communicado right now whose job is it to get him up to speed that'll be quite the gig and then how is he going to process his first full-blown New York Sports media Kur fuffle how will he handle the questions from the New York media that I think this time will be a bit more aggressive than they ever have been with with Aaron and if that is a parryan Thrust that he goes through the only thing that it can affect during the playing season is that's the first ever parrying thrust that he might think was either manufactured by management or the coaching staff although they say they're all on the same page or he feels it's unfair because he knows what's best for him and he's done it and his teammates didn't have a problem with it and now he's got to go through all this stuff and this is the first one of those which might make the one that happens during the playing season if the Jets are one and three a little bit more contentious then cuz we're already we're already one of these in you know I've been through these things man I've seen it I've grown up there I've heard it I've seen it cuz I'm just trying to factor all this in is how will it affect a win or a loss during the fall and are we just making a big deal of it right now because there's no football but it is weird man quarterbacks are there for their team they're there for their guys they're there because they're the leaders they're the first one in last one out they're not the ones who aren't there because they're as Connor Hughes even explaining there's not much going on they're called a trip Diana Rini is talking about it is a conscious choice to not be around football when everyone else is there Chase Daniel is saying you can't but wait till you hear what it is distraction should be out of the building well they're in the building calls are in the house how will it affect a win and a loss again we shall see I say week one doesn't matter yet but we'll see what happens during the season when rubber meets Road that's the latest hope the mind is being expanded because the back page headlines sure are catch the rich eyes and show every single day on the Roku Channel 12 to3 Eastern for 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Channel: The Rich Eisen Show

Views: 169,076

Keywords: Rich Eisen, Rich Eisen Show, sports, NFL, football, college football, CFP, pop culture, Roku, NFL Network, Chris Brockman, TJ Jefferson, Del Tufo, Super Bowl, sports talk, talk show, Football, CFB, College Football, Baseball, NFL Draft, Jets, New York, Zach Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Robert Saleh, Nathaniel Hackett, Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Joe Douglas, Breece Hall, Tyron Smith, Morgan Moses, AFC East, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Patriots, RFK, Robert Kennedy Jr

Id: 2wzQIFwaOZY

Length: 16min 35sec (995 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 12 2024