Maybe Aaron Rodgers will play. Maybe he won’t. The New York Jets quarterback isn’t sure yet if he will take the field for the preseason finale against the Giants on Saturday night. Rodgers also won’t push coach Robert Saleh in either direction.
“I don’t really have a preference,” Rodgers said Tuesday after getting a veteran rest day along with several other key players.
Rodgers is expected to join the Jets’ joint practice with the Giants on Wednesday. If he doesn’t play in the game, this practice will be the final preparation before the regular-season opener at San Francisco on Sept. 9.
“Whether or not we play Saturday, who knows?” Rodgers said. “If Saleh wants us to, then we will. I don’t know what he told you guys, but we haven’t been told anything yet.”
Saleh mentioned on Monday that the coaches would decide on playing time for Rodgers and the starters after the joint practice.
“Most of these practices have been pretty (first-team) heavy,” Rodgers said. “We took a lot of reps against Washington and then against Carolina.
I assume it’s going to be a lot of reps, probably situational stuff, probably a third-down period, probably some sort of red zone period, some sort of two-minute period. So there’s good opportunities.”
The 40-year-old Rodgers, starting his 20th NFL season, praised Saleh’s approach for this summer.
“I would say the camp is much harder this year and maybe the hardest in the last seven or eight of my career,” Rodgers said. “I knew that. I had a little insight coming into camp that that’s what Robert wanted to do. So I think it’s been good for us.”
Rodgers said the coach told him the starters have taken about 300 more snaps in practice this year compared to this time last year.
“And it feels like it, but it’s good,” Rodgers said. “I think it’s going to allow us to maybe be a little more ready. And we’ve been fortunate with injuries. We haven’t had a ton of injuries so far.
So, I like it. It’s been great. He talked to the older guys and not a lot of complaints from any of those guys. Young guys don’t know any better. So it’s been good.”
