Robert Saleh turns Aaron Rodgers injury scare into important lesson for Jets during camp

Aaron Rodgers‘ bad foot scared the life out of Jets fans, Saturday, if they happened to be watching practice. Everyone had such sweet Super Bowl dreams after the team signed the former Packer. But now, were their hopes dashed?

All that Jets angst lasted for about a minute. Zach Wilson replaced Rodgers with the first-team offense. But then Rodgers walked back onto the field.

What happened? A Jets defender got too close to the QB. It was friendly fire at training camp. That’s a huge football faux pas. Quarterbacks wear bright red jerseys for a reason. On Saturday, edge rusher Jermaine Johnson stepped on Rodgers foot.

More specifically, the official report from the Jets is Johnson stepped on Rodgers’ pinkie toe. Coach Robert Saleh took time to remind his defensive players that getting anywhere near a quarterback is forbidden.

“We do it all the time,” Saleh said of the defensive reminders. “Stay off the quarterback. Respect the quarterback. Every player knows how important those quarterbacks are. But stay up, stay off them. It goes without saying, but you’re always going to try to make it a point of emphasis.”

Aaron Rodgers wasn’t only NFL QB who got hit by his own guy

But defenders so sometimes get close, only for a coach to yell at them. Take what happened in Oxnard, Calif. Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy called out star linebacker Micah Parsons for getting too close to Dak Prescott.

“In Micah’s case, we have practice ethics, rules and structure to our drills,” McCarthy said Thursday. “We go through these spots all the time: you don’t hit the quarterback. The quarterback hasn’t been hit in practice in my 30 years (as an NFL coach) that I can recall. That’s all part of working together, having discipline in your rush lane, discipline in your pass-protection unit, and this is why you have camp.

“We have a tremendous amount of work to do in the area of technique and fundamentals. Oh yeah, we’ve talked about that a number of times. That’s all part of the practice ethic plan. He is a No. 1 violator right now.”  

If the Jets had their way, maybe they’d encase Aaron Rodgers in bubble wrap. The team opened their preseason schedule against the Browns, Thursday night. And Rodgers was wearing street clothes, watching the action from the sidelines. There’s a definite chance he’s not going to see game action until the Jets open the season at MetLife Stadium against the Bills, Sept. 11. He might see some snaps in the final exhibition against the Giants.

But we’re thinking no one wearing a Jets practice jersey will get anywhere near Aaron Rodgers for the foreseeable future.

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