The Jets are betting that the majority of 800-plus practice snaps is a better tune-up for Aaron Rodgers than even one preseason game snap.
Rodgers and the rest of the offensive and defensive starters will not play Saturday against the Giants, head coach Robert Saleh revealed on the final day of training camp.
That means that 20 of the 22 projected starters will not have played in any of the three preseason games, and Rodgers will go 364 days without getting tackled — from the time he tore his Achilles in Week 1 of last season until the Sept. 9 opener against the 49ers.
“I’m honestly not thinking about it from an injury standpoint because you can get hurt at practice, you can get hurt brushing your teeth, for crying out loud,” Saleh said. “This has everything to do with whether we are preparing ourselves properly and not just looking at checking the old coaches’ box, ‘So I feel good about it, we’ve got to go play.’ Does it really help us in Week 1?”
A group of 31 players — including quarterback Tyrod Taylor, and rookie running backs Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis — who presumably won’t play against the Giants stretched at the start of Thursday’s practice before ceding the field to the second-, third- and fourth-stringers.
Adrian Martinez will start at quarterback — and could have rookie receiver Malachi Corley to throw to — and rookie Andrew Peasley will play in relief.
“Preseason football is just different,” tight end Tyler Conklin said. “It’s not the regular season. I don’t think it’s a huge deal, to be honest.”
The Jets’ starting offense averaged about 30 snaps per practice as compared to about 20 last summer, Saleh said.
Rodgers sat out just two practices, and tested his surgically repaired Achilles in joint practices against the Panthers and Giants.
“He has plenty of mobility,” Saleh said. “You can tell that he’s gaining more and more confidence in it because he’s not afraid to run and leave the pocket. He manufactures off-schedule plays.”
If the Jets start slowly, Saleh’s approach will be open to criticism, especially when the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs played starters in two of three preseason games.
But it won’t be because Saleh ran a soft camp — not when sixth-year linebacker Quincy Williams called it the most difficult since waking up at 5:30 a.m. for Mat Drills as a freshman at Murray State.
“We got our mindset on how we want things run here,” Williams said. “Trusting our coaching staff, our sports science group, our weight-room trainers. Even though you are not playing, you still have the mindset every day like you are ready to play.”
But will the tackling be sloppy given that’s not allowed even in joint practices?
“That’s a switch,” Williams said. “Right now, during practice, you focus on tracking. That’s the important thing. It’s really not even the big hits that’s the shocker, the hard part. [Tackling] is not one of those things that’s going to be hard to turn on real quick.”
It’s a departure from how Saleh has handled the preseason in the past, when starters played alongside quarterbacks Zach Wilson and Rodgers in at least one game.
The Jets have had early season injury misfortune — whether that’s losing pass rusher Carl Lawson to a season-ending torn ACL in a joint practice in 2021, Wilson for the first three regular-season games to a knee injury in 2022 or Rodgers four snaps into his Jets career.
“Our first year, we were still a very young team, young staff,” Saleh said. “This is Year 4, really speaking the same languages all the way across the board. It’s not that we don’t need it, it’s just that this is a much more veteran group. It’s all about how many reps you need to get yourself ready to play.”
Beyond Rodgers, it’s a bit unconventional for an offensive line with three new starters not to play together — let alone with Rodgers — in a game setting until Week 1.
But it is unlikely that the Giants play their three defensive line studs (Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux) in the game.
“We got much better work,” Saleh said, referring to Wednesday’s joint practice. “What’s better, that [preseason game against backups] or the 40 plays they got against those guys? I’m not concerned about the actual game part because for them practice and a game are the same — they don’t get tackled.”
Rodgers had publicly expressed an interest in playing in the preseason — he directed two series last year — but this was always the direction Saleh was leaning.
Only center Joe Tippman and defensive end Micheal Clemons have played so far among projected starters.
“This whole offseason we’ve taken a different approach to how we’re preparing our guys for Week 1,” Saleh said, “and hopefully it pans out.”
