Star NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers says he tweaked his calf during an OTA drill with the New York Jets. OTAs, or Organized Team Activities, are pre-training camp get-togethers in which team building and basic drills are at the forefront. The activities are not seen as mandatory, and there are strict guidelines as to what can and can’t happen during these activities to disallow teams to gain an unfair advantage by getting extra training time before the official camp starts.
Rodgers noted that the injury happened while running during some pre-practice conditioning.
“I just tweaked my calf in a little pre-practice conditioning, so I decided to take a vet day,” Rodgers noted to reporters. He reassured them that it’s “not too serious,”; which should come as no surprise, as Rodgers has regularly played through injuries during the regular season without much of a drop in his performance.
Despite the injury, Rodgers remained on the field, heavily involved in the drills and talking from the sideline while he took the precautionary step to rest his calf.
Enthusiasm remains high for the coming season of Jets football with Rodgers at the helm. Many media outlets have already put them in contention for winning the Super Bowl. Rodgers had very positive things to say about his mindset and the team.
“It’s been awesome. It’s been a lot of fun. I haven’t been to OTAs in the last couple of years, so it’s nice to kind of be out here, be out in meetings, and speak up about certain things — adjustments in the offense and additional coaching points. Obviously, got a long history with Nathaniel (Hackett), so he gives me a lot of latitudes to speak up in the meetings. An opportunity to help out Zach (Wilson) and Tim (Boyle) and Chris (Streveler), and the room is a lot of fun.”
Players are equally excited about the arrival and enthusiasm of Rodgers entering the Jets camp, as Cornerback A.J Reed noted while recalling his first meeting with the QB.
“When I saw him, I was like, ‘Dang, that’s really AR. He’s really a Jet,'” Reed said. “It was kind of surreal. It’s a crazy feeling knowing we’re going to have a Hall of Fame quarterback playing for us this year. It’s pretty dope.”
