Jets CB Sauce Gardner Fires Back at Aaron Rodgers Critics

New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner has heard enough of the noise on social media criticizing his teammate Aaron Rodgers.

“Are y’all really making a big deal because a 15+ year HOF QB missed 2 days of practice after being with the team all throughout Phase 1, 2, & 3 of OTA’s?? GG’s,” Gardner wrote on X previously Twitter.

Rodgers was present for the voluntary OTAs during the spring, but he was not in attendance for the team’s two-day mandatory minicamp.

Head coach Robert Saleh labeled it an unexcused absence for Rodgers but revealed that he and the team knew about it for weeks.

Social Media Loses It Over Rodgers’ Absence and an Old Quote Comes Back to Life

Back in January, Rodgers said the key for the Jets is to “flush the bulls***.”

“Anything in this building that we’re doing individually or collectively that has nothing to do with real winning needs to be assessed,” Rodgers explained via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “If you want to be a winning organization and put yourself in [a] position to win championships and be competitive, everything that you do matters. And the bulls— that has nothing to do with winning needs to get out of the building. So that’ll be the focus moving forward.”

That quote has gotten a lot of extra shelf life this offseason when Rodgers has been involved in eyebrow-raising headlines.

Former NFL player Ross Tucker admitted that he was perfectly fine with Rodgers skipping minicamp but, “Just don’t tell me he’s a leader or that football is his top priority.”

Former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Robert Griffin III said Rodgers’ absence from minicamp isn’t “an issue INSIDE THE BUILDING.” However, he said that it’s an issue outside of the building because they didn’t do something about it.

Whether that be excusing his absence, moving the minicamp date, or being ahead of the story.

Nick Wright called Rodgers, “one of the phoniest, most disingenuous athletes of our lifetime.”

Former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi told Pat McAfee that, “The Aaron Rodgers situation should’ve been very easily manageable… Instead, they light a fire and throw gasoline on it. Like who’s running this team?!”

What Is the Ripple Effects From This Rodgers-Jets Story?

Missing two random non-padded practices in June is going to have a negative impact on the results of the 2024 season.

However, it has planted seeds.

If the Jets get off to a red-hot start when the season gets here no one will remember this blip on the offseason radar. However, if things start sideways, plenty of people will point to these missed mandatory minicamps as some sort of sign.

Rodgers is a polarizing guy. He has a lot of thoughts about football and non-football topics. That generates buzz and makes people feel a certain type of way.

As far as Jets fans are concerned none of that stuff matters if Rodgers returns to form and is tossing touchdowns on gameday. If he isn’t living up to the hype then the other noise will start to grow louder.

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