Content available exclusively for subscribers
The debate rages on . . .
The controversy about Aaron Rodgers’ missing minicamp was kind of dying down, but then reporter Connor Hughes, from the Jets’ media partner SNY, announced on July 1, “Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers missed the team’s mandatory minicamp because he had a pre-planned trip to Egypt, sources told SNY.”
Hughes has become like Secretariat at the Belmont Stakes dominating the field (Jets beat) by many lengths.
Now, obviously, the story was going to re-emerge when training camp started and Rodgers had his first press conference, but Hughes blockbuster made it a big story this week, the first week of July – all over the internet and cable sports television.
So Rodgers has taken a lot of criticism this holiday week, a week that perhaps would have been quiet on the Jets front.
Former Indiana basketball player Dan Dakich, who also coached Bowling Green basketball, and worked at ESPN, went after Rodgers on his podcast about missing the minicamp to go to Egypt.
“It is a bad look – of course it’s a bad look,” said Dakich, who played and coached under the late Bob Knight at Indiana. “We’re not paying you to go to Egypt. We’re not paying you to work year-round either. You got the greatest job in America. You are making about $40 million dollars to play quarterback in New York, home of Broadway Joe. We don’t put restrictions on you. What do you have to do as a 40-year-old quarterback except show up when you should? You got a preplanned trip to Egypt. Wonderful. Why didn’t you go to [minicamp] and then go to Egypt?
“With your trip the Egypt, we will move camp up if this is so important. Of course it’s a bad look, it’s a horse bleep look. It’s ridiculous. It’s stupid. It’s idiotic. It’s asinine. It’s selfish.”
Let us know how you really feel Dan.
Dakich might have gone overboard with the attacks at the end, but he brings up the question many of us are looking for an answer to – Why did the trip to Egypt have to be during the minicamp, why could it have not been at some point during the six-week window, between minicamp and training camp, that the players have off?
Maybe there is a legitimate answer to that.
Maybe there was some kind of archeological symposium going on in Egypt those specific days. Who knows? Once Rodgers addresses the matter, if he chooses to, we will find out why he had to be in Egypt on June 10 and 11, the two days of the Jets’ mandatory minicamp.
Perhaps he will address it before camp on “The Pat McAfee Show” or another podcast.
Or maybe he will choose to never address it because he doesn’t feel he owes anybody an explanation.
The legendary actor Humphrey Bogart once famously said, “I don’t owe my public anything except a good performance. That’s what they pay for. And if they get that, we’re even-Stephen.”
And honestly, isn’t that basically what the Jets and their fans want from this individual – good performances and wins?
Honestly, after 13 straight years of missing the playoffs, and a lot of substandard QB play, if Rodgers can play like he has in the past, and lead the Jets to a good season, that is probably all anybody in Jets Nation cares about at this point.
Not whether he saw the Pyramids of Giza or went on a Nile cruise in early June, instead of going to a two-day minicamp.
July 5, 2024
Premium will return by 9:30 pm (or sooner) on Monday.
