NEW York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been in the lab getting ready for the 2024 NFL season.
After suffering a season-ending Achilles tear in the first game of last season, Rodgers is going through a heavy offseason workout plan to make sure he performs in 2024.
On Monday, Rodgers arrived to the Jets’ training facility for the first day of the voluntary offseason program.
During the first two weeks of the program, players who attend will go through a circuit of strength and conditioning workouts and team meetings, per NFL rules.
It is typically unusual to see a player of Rodgers’ caliber at voluntary workouts, but he was present last year as well.
His participation last year was an effort to meet teammates and get established with the Jets. He also had a $50,000 bonus on the line for attending the workout.
However, that isn’t a part of his contract this year, showing a level of dedication to the Jets, who have put their entire faith in him.
Rodgers seems to be putting a particular emphasis on strength and conditioning after last year was the shortest season of his career, thus explaining his appearance at the voluntary workouts this year.
He was also recently seen training with college football players at the University of Southern California in what appears to be an effort to get a bigger stature in the pocket.
Rodgers is training with a vengeance to have a successful season with the Jets after he feared he would be forced to retire after his torn Achilles last year.
“I was really thinking, ‘This is it. You don’t come back from this injury,’” Rodgers said.
Ian O’Connor, the author of an upcoming biography on Rodgers, said he saw the quarterback recently and confirmed he is getting bigger.
“I saw him recently & he looks pretty jacked in the upper body,” O’Connor wrote on X.
“He confirmed he got bigger. Looks ready for a fight.”
During voluntary workouts, Jets players are permitted to be at team facilities for a max of four hours per day. They get 90 minutes of on-field time and two hours for weight lifting.
Rodgers is permitted to throw to uncovered receivers and the only coaches permitted on the field are strength and conditioning coaches.
On April 29, after the two-week voluntary workout ends, head coach Robert Saleh and other coaches are allowed on the field to run individual drills.
I was really thinking, ‘This is it. You don’t come back from this injury.’
The Jets will start their OTAs (Organized Team Activities) on May 20 and will conduct a series of 10 of them.
Rodgers is expected to be present at the OTAs, according to head coach Robert Saleh.
The Jets finished 7-10 last year without Rodgers at the helm of the offense.
With him in 2024 plus the additions of offensive linemen John Simpson, Tyron Smith, and Morgan Moses, and wide receiver Mike Williams, the Jets could finally be poised for a breakout season.
Plus, the team had tight end prospect Brock Bowers in the building for a pre-draft meeting, and he could be an additional piece of the puzzle for the Jets.
