Aaron Rodgers’ absence from the Jets’ minicamp caused quite a stir. Now the quarterback takes a stand – and downplays the issue

Quarterback superstar Aaron Rodgers was absent from the New York Jets’ mandatory minicamp. A much-noticed absence, which the 40-year-old has now commented on.

The playmaker played down the issue and emphasized that minicamps these days are just glorified OTA workouts.

“You can arbitrarily highlight any OTA week and say, ‘This is minicamp week,’ which kind of makes it more mandatory than the other weeks,” he said on the latest episode of the “Barstool” podcast “Pardon My Take.”

According to Rodgers, it was “an OTA program. Words can be a little deceiving from time to time. You can make a story out of the fact that I missed minicamp, but it was really two days of OTAs, the first ten days I showed up.”

As such, the four-time NFL MVP noted that the structure of minicamps has changed over the years, recalling that they used to be three-day events with five workouts. This used to be “a real thing”.

Rodgers caused controversy on June 11 when he didn’t show up for the start of a two-day minicamp. Head coach Robert Saleh called it an “unexcused” absence and stated that Rodgers could be fined under the collective bargaining agreement.

Rodgers dodges question

In the same breath, however, he also stated that Rodgers had communicated his plans in advance. It later emerged that the 40-year-old had used the time for a vacation in Egypt.

Incidentally, when asked by a reporter whether he had a problem with his absence being described as “unexcused”, Rodgers was evasive. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll get fined for it,” he said.

According to the collective bargaining agreement, minicamps are a mandatory event in the NFL.