Aaron Rodgers, Jets' starters won't play in preseason finale vs. Giants

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – See you Sept. 9, Aaron.

Robert Saleh won’t play Aaron Rodgers or the rest of the starters in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Giants. Saleh is saving them for the Jets’ Week 1 game in San Francisco.

This was expected by the way Saleh shaped this training camp.

He increased the workload of the starting team and scheduled three joint practices with the Jets’ three preseason opponents — Washington, Carolina and the Giants — to get them game-like experiences and situations.

“I feel like we’ve gotten so much work done, so much good work with three quality opponents over three weeks,” Saleh said before Thursday’s final practice of training camp. “Last year we didn’t scrimmage with the Giants. This year we’ve had three different scrimmages. I feel the amount of work we’ve got in has been very productive.”

On Saturday, it will be Adrian Martinez and Andrew Peasley battling for the Jets’ third quarterback job, behind Rodgers and Tyrod Taylor. There really aren’t any position spots up for grabs. The Jets will be looking for players for depth and practice team roles.

This is a mostly veteran group with established players, which is another reason Saleh said he chose to go this route.

Only second-year center Joe Tippmann and defensive end Micheal Clemons — who is projected to start if Haason Reddick remains a holdout — have played in the preseason. Saleh said resting the starters, most notably Rodgers, has nothing to do with fear of injury.

“Honestly, I’m not thinking about it from an injury standpoint,” Saleh said. “You can get hurt at practice. You can get hurt brushing your teeth for crying out loud. This has everything to do with whether or not we’re preparing ourselves properly and not just checking the old coach’s box of, ‘Oh, I feel good about it. We got to go play.’ It’s, ‘Does it really help us in Week 1?’

“This whole offseason we’re taking a different approach with how we’re preparing our guys for Week 1 and hopefully it pans out.”

The Jets were always going to be smart with Rodgers and other players returning from injury. He hasn’t played in a game since tearing his Achilles tendon four snaps into last season. Tyron Smith, Morgan Moses and Alijah Vera-Tucker have been on snap counts in practice.

Rodgers, the oldest player in the NFL, has only been held out of three practices this camp. That included Thursday’s light practice that featured only those expected to play against the Giants. Rodgers spoke this week about this camp being “the hardest in the last seven or eight in my career.”

Other Jets echoed that.

“He’s telling the truth,” said defensive tackle Solomon Thomas, in his eighth year in the NFL. “Definitely one of the hardest camps I’ve been a part of in my time in the league.”

Tight end Tyler Conklin, in his seventh year, said, “It’s probably the heaviest training camp I might have had in my career.”

Saleh estimated that Rodgers had more than 800 reps in team competition and joint practices. Saleh said the first team has averaged more than 30 reps a practice this camp compared to the 20 it had last year. 

In past seasons, Saleh played his quarterbacks and some veterans in the preseason, including Rodgers, who appeared in the final game against the Giants.

Saleh, who is in his fourth season as Jets coach, said the first year or two he did it to get young quarterback Zach Wilson the work as well as everyone learning a new system on both sides of the ball. He feels this group needed a different approach.

“We were still a very young team, young staff. This is Year 4,” Saleh said. “This is a much more veteran group. We’ve got four years under our belts of playing, playing the game side-by-side, so now it’s all about reps and how many reps you need to get yourself ready to play.”

Reddick watch

It was Day 31 of Reddick’s hold out. Saleh was asked if he believes Reddick will report in time to play Week 1.

“I don’t know,” Saleh said. “Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it.”

Aaron’s autograph

Linebacker Quincy Williams said he hasn’t intercepted Rodgers in practice yet, but if he does he will ask him to sign the football. “I’m telling you,” Williams said, “my first pick, whether it’s in practice a scrimmage, this year or next year, he’s going to have to sign that ball.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.