Aaron Rodgers and Daniel Jones don't need to be imperiled by playing in meaningless preseason games

Preseason football games, which begin for the Giants on Thursday night and the Jets on Saturday afternoon, mean one thing:

We’re almost there.

Almost back to the real thing.

And for New York’s two teams, it also means they are close to having their starting quarterbacks ready to play when the regular season begins in a few short weeks.

It’s easy to forget, as Daniel Jones and Aaron Rodgers have taken every first-team rep for their respective teams so far this summer, that neither of their availabilities was ever a stone-cold given. The timelines for their returns from injuries that ruined both of the teams’ 2023 seasons always lined up favorably, but there were still obstacles and hurdles that needed to be cleared for Jones to be back from his torn ACL and Rodgers from his torn Achilles.

So far both franchises have done just about everything right to guide their most important players through the hazards of their rehabilitations and back onto the field. Now, so close to the finish line of recovery — which, paradoxically, is the starting line for the regular season — they’ll be smart and well-served to keep them off the field in these meaningless exhibitions.

There is no logical reason to “test” those surgically repaired body parts upon which both teams’ upcoming seasons are hung. Mostly because tests can be failed. Injuries are a danger in all sports, football in particular, and so minimizing the exposure to them needs to become as much a part of strategy as play-calling and formations.

All the work went into getting these guys ready to go in September, which is right around the corner. Don’t imperil it now.

The Jets have already come two-thirds of the way to that conclusion. Last week Robert Saleh said Rodgers would not play in either of the first two preseason contests, although he left the door open for a quarterback cameo in the third and final tune-up. That’s the way the Jets played it last year, with Rodgers making his full-uniformed debut for them against the Giants. It was a largely uneventful affair, but it served the purpose of letting Rodgers get a few snaps in his new surroundings with his new teammates. No one at the time knew he’d see more action in that game than he would in the regular season.

This year, though, the situation is vastly different. Rodgers is more familiar with his teammates and coaches and stadium (and, gasp, it’s turf!). The benefits to such an appearance are decidedly less. While the chances of reinjuring his Achilles 11 months post-surgery are medically slim, is it really worth the risk to put a 40-year-old quarterback on the field where anything from a slammed finger to a stepped-on toe could jeopardize his availability for the Sept. 9 opener in San Francisco?

No. No it is not.

The Giants and Brian Daboll, meanwhile, haven’t said publicly what their plan is for Jones when they face the Lions on Thursday but it is very unlikely he’ll see any action. His presence is tied directly to the availability of his starting offensive line. Given how that group seemed to get enough work out of the two days of joint practices with Detroit that they’ll be given a reprieve at MetLife Stadium, Jones probably gets that pass as well.

Looking beyond that, there is absolutely no reason for Jones to play. The Giants know what he can do and what he can’t do. And if they don’t after five seasons with the organization and two with the current coaching and front-office regime, well, that’s a deeper flaw than a torn ligament or tendon.

Jones and Rodgers have both expressed an openness to play before their seasons truly start.

“I’d like to play,” Jones said this week. “I always think it’s valuable to get game reps.”

Said Rodgers last week: “If [Saleh] decides he wants me to play against the Giants, I'll strap it up."

But both also said they would ultimately defer to the decisions made by their coaches.

Coaches who, it should be noted, spent most of last season trying in vain to overcome the quarterback injuries that only now seem to have become distant memories. There is no need to relive those days ever again.

Let Jones and Rodgers get their preseason work in during practices and the more controlled situations created in workouts with other teams, with red jerseys protecting them better than their offensive lines ever could, and head into the regular season with the two starting quarterbacks as fully recovered as possible.

There already will be 17 upcoming games through which Jones and Rodgers will need to avoid getting hurt and missing time in order for their teams to function as designed. It’s silly to willfully open that window of risk any wider than it needs to be.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.