Aaron Rodgers is expected to participate in the New York Jets’ spring practice, and his coach, Robert Saleh, laughed off suggestions that the quarterback will be Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate.
An explosive report in the New York Times in early March said that Rodgers and RFK Jr. had been talking “pretty continuously” about the Jets star as his running mate, and that the NFL star “welcomed” to the discussions.
Meanwhile, Saleh spoke to reporters Monday morning at the NFL Coaches Breakfast in Orlando and was inevitably asked about his quarterback.
“We hope it will be available by spring,” Saleh said. ‘In OTAs, seven in seven camps, I should be able to do all those things.
‘As we get closer in the coming weeks, we will communicate more. Completely anticipating it, yes.’
The New York Jets expect Aaron Rodgers to be fully involved in planning for the upcoming NFL season, despite explosive reports linking him to being RFK Jr.’s running mate.
Both Rodgers and RFJ Jr are skeptical about vaccines and have been outspoken about their views.
Saleh was then asked if Rodgers would have “anything else to do besides football and planning for next season with the Jets.”
Saleh laughed and said, “Not that I know of.”
RFK Jr. is expected to announce his running mate on Tuesday, according to the same Times article that linked Rodgers to the job.
Rodgers’ availability is even more significant for the Jets after the quarterback tore his Achilles tendon just minutes into his debut in New York last season, cutting his debut campaign short just as it began.
It also brought down the Jets’ campaign: One of the most hyped teams before the NFL season failed to make the playoffs, even though Rodgers did everything he could to return before hopes faded.
The ties to RFK Jr. arose while Rodgers was on an ayahuasca trip in Costa Rica, according to Pat McAfee.
McAfee, who hosted Rodgers on his ESPN show every Tuesday during the NFL season, added that Rodgers didn’t expect the news to be reported when it was.
Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon minutes into his Jets debut last year and missed the entire season.
Rodgers was hurt after just four plays of his first and so far only game for the Jets.
McAfee said: “When the New York Times news hit the Internet that RFK Jr. had Aaron Rodgers as one of the finalists for his potential vice president in his currently ongoing independent presidential race, the world went away.
‘Wow, I wasn’t expecting this one. He had no idea this was going to happen. I started thinking back and you can see how RFK Jr. has really ruffled some feathers in the world of politics.
“Turns out we were in the middle of it and I didn’t necessarily love the feathers that were ruffled because I had to be in the middle of a storm.
‘But hey, listen. Aaron Rodgers is a friend of the program, a friend of ours, that’s how he feels, he is one of the best quarterbacks in the history of football.
‘So I approached the sources. As I understand it, there is a possibility that said person (Rodgers), who has the potential to be a future vice president of an independent president if that ever happened, for the first time in the history of the United States, has never gotten more than as 4 percent of the vote or something like that. I have done a lot of research.
‘The world found out while that man was in Costa Rica. So every time that photo is posted, Jordan Poyer and Aaron Rodgers, we can allude that they are now in Costa Rica.
Saleh said the Jets expect Rodgers to be fully involved in plans for next season.
‘What are they doing in Costa Rica? We’re guessing they’ll sit down with the medicine and said there’s no need to go to the attic or basement if you’re preparing for this kind of thing.
‘It’s a much better scenario than I expected after hearing stories about the use of ayahuasca at Costa Rice. They were talking about being in teepees and I was like “wow, I’ll never do that.” I’ve seen other people making videos of it and they’re like walking through mud, but this looks like a really nice setup down there.
“I’m not 100 percent sure that the New York Jets quarterback necessarily knew that the New York Times was going to report that he would potentially be vice president.
“I didn’t get many follow-up questions because he was in the middle of something, but I’m not 100 percent sure there was a full implementation plan because you would think he wouldn’t be in Costa Rica.”
Rodgers shares Kennedy’s distrust of vaccines and the two are regulars on anti-establishment podcasts.
Kennedy has focused on gaining access to the ballot, an expensive and time-consuming process that he says will require him to collect more than a million signatures in a state-by-state effort.
Many states require independent candidates to name a running mate before they can seek ballot access, a factor that fueled the initial push for Kennedy to make an election.