Former New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini believes that Aaron Rodgers’ absence from last month’s minicamp is the direct opposite of what the organization needs heading into the season.
Rodgers missed mandatory minicamp last month to take a trip to Egypt. For Rodgers, it was the first time all offseason that he missed a workout or a practice at the Jets facility.
And because it is the Jets, the situation is now a huge talking point and one that is under the microscope. Rodgers, a future Hall of Fame quarterback, is coming off a season-ending Achilles injury that he suffered in Week 1 of the regular season.
Despite the injury, Rodgers did not take time off from the team and has been fully engaged in offseason workouts. But the optics of the trip, according to Mangini, is what matters the most right now.
But Mangini, who coached the Jets from 2006-08, sees the timing of the trip as something that the Jets as an organization simply don’t need ahead of a season of expectations. In speaking on ‘The Herd,’ Mangini believes that the minicamp miss by Rodgers is an important issue for the team.
“It all matters and I really like Aaron Rodgers as a quarterback, and I predicted that the Jets would win the division last year if Aaron had played – and I do believe that he still has the ability to win,” Mangini said on FS1 this week.
“What’s disappointing about that situation is he was the one that talked about the importance of limiting distraction. He was the one that would talk about the importance of focusing on only football.
“And all the things that he preaches in the press conference. And then you get in this situation where he misses the mandatory minicamp, and I get that he was at the voluntary part and I think that’s great. But it’s not a secret when mandatory minicamp is. This year was actually a little bit earlier than last year’s mandatory mini-camp for the Jets. And then you understand when vacation is and if you have a trip that’s planned, you can set it up in a way that it doesn’t disturb the one thing that you’re required to do in the off season.
Mangini then went all-in on the importance of Rodgers missing minicamp in terms of the big picture for the Jets.
“So it does it matter, in the grand scheme of things, in terms of him missing those two days is going to dramatically change how he performs, or the other group performs? No, but it’s more indicative of all the noise that’s brought into the building that’s so unnecessary and distracts from everything else that they’re trying to get,” Mangini said.
“And at the end of the day, if he doesn’t win this year – he’s gone. The coaching staff is gone. And the Jets are starting – probably the GM is gone. Everybody’s starting over.”
Mangini led the Jets to the playoffs in 2006, their only postseason appearance in his three years with the organization. He has an overall record of 23-25 from his time in New York.
