Aaron Rodgers will have no medical restrictions later this month when the New York Jets begin the third phase of Organized Team Activities.
That’s according to Jets coach Robert Saleh, who met with reporters, Friday, as the team opened its rookie mini camp.
Rodgers, who at 40 is the oldest quarterback in the NFL, missed all but four plays of the 2023 season. Early in last year’s opener against the Buffalo Bills, Rodgers ruptured his left Achilles. He then had surgery to repair the tendon. Rodgers’ recovery was going so well that he talked about coming back late in the season if the Jets were involved in “meaningful” games. But New York knocked itself out of the playoff race and Rodgers never tested his Achilles in a game, although he did start doing some drills with the rest of his offensive teammates.
“Once phase three hits, we’re not anticipating any restrictions from what we can and can’t do with him,” Saleh said of Rodgers.
The Jets, like all the other teams in the NFL, will start phase three of OTAs later this month. This phase lasts four weeks. Teams can conduct 10 practices of non-contact, 11-on-11 drills. Rodgers was doing some of that already at the end of the 2023 season.
Saleh complimented Rodgers’ comeback from surgery.
“The guy can still sling it,” Saleh told reporters. “Obviously, he’s still working through his rehab, but there are no issues on the trajectory on which he’s going.”
The Jets did rework their quarterback depth chart since the end of the season. The team traded Zach Wilson, the No. 2 selection of the 2021 NFL Draft, to the Broncos for a seventh-round pick. Wilson had fallen behind Rodgers when the Jets traded with the Packers last spring for the veteran quarterback. But when Rodgers went down with the Achilles, Wilson, again was the starter. But the results weren’t any different.
Meanwhile, the Jets signed veteran Tyrod Taylor as the No. 2 quarterback. Taylor is in his 14th season in the NFL. They also drafted former Florida State star Jordan Travis in the fifth round of this year’s draft. Travis suffered a significant ankle injury late last season. He should be ready to start training camp this July.
Travis is a developmental project. Saleh described him as a “ball of clay.” But he probably will have the luxury of sitting back and learning from the two older quarterbacks on the roster.
“He’s a tremendously talented young man and extremely gifted, especially athletically,” Saleh said of Travis. “He’s got a lot of work to do for sure, especially with tying his lower half to his arm and all that good stuff, but he’s a gifted athlete.”
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