Aaron Rodgers’ mathematics shows that 10 is greater than two.
Rodgers played down the uproar over his decision to make a personal trip to Egypt and miss the Jets’ mandatory mini-camp in June.
The two-day minicamp will operate under much the same rules and with similar drills as the 10 previous voluntary OTAs (the Jets held only nine).
“Now it’s not a mini camp, they can randomly choose a [mandatory] “They can tag in any week of OTAs they want,” Rodgers said on an episode of “Pardon My Take” that aired Monday, according to on3.com.
“This is the ‘minicamp week,’ which makes it more mandatory than other weeks, but it’s an OTA schedule. So words can be a little misleading. They can make a story about how I missed minicamp, when it was actually two OTA days. I got in the top 10.”
The Jets officially held only nine OTAs, with head coach Robert Saleh canceling the last one as a player gesture.
Saleh called Rodgers’ absence “unauthorized” and was therefore fined.
Here’s what Rodgers said: If he had skipped the nine voluntary OTAs and only attended the mandatory minicamp, he would have gotten significantly less practice time as he comes back from an Achilles injury last season. But there might have been less of a fuss about semantics.
Rodgers and “Pardon My Take” co-host Big Cat then had a little sly fun with defining words.
“You would never change the meaning of a word or intentionally tell people,” the co-host said in a subtle reference to the 2021 debate Rodgers sparked while with the Packers when he said he had been “immunized” against COVID-19, but which was interpreted by some as “vaccinated” without any correction from Rodgers.
The Jets report to training camp on Tuesday.
Rodgers will be there, but it’s not yet known if Jets pass rusher Haason Reddick will be there as well, as he skipped all of the OTAs and minicamp.