Aaron Rodgers Explains Why He Went To Egypt Instead Jets’ Mandatory Minicamp

On a recent podcast episode with Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take, the New York Jets and Super Bowl champion quarterback Aaron Rodgers finally opened up about his reason for missing mandatory minicamp and whether he thought his absence deserved the attention it got.

“This is the minicamp week,’ which makes it somehow more mandatory than the other weeks, but it was an OTA schedule. That’s how words can be a little deceiving from time to time. They can make a story out of the fact that I missed minicamp, but it was really two OTA days, but [I] came to the first 10.”

On the first day of training camp, he opened up further.

“I’m an adult, I knew it, what I was getting into, I knew what that the fine would be,” he said.

He later told the podcast that he went to Egypt, a destination that had been on his radar for years, although it was unclear why he needed to go for those two days.

Rodgers played just four snaps last season before tearing his Achilles in his team’s Monday night season opener against the Buffalo Bills. The 40-year-old signal-caller tried to become a medical marvel and return from his injury by the end of the season instead of the usual 9-12 month recovery time, but his comeback fell short.

New York continues to build around Rodgers, drafting five offensive players with their seven picks, including former Penn State OT Olu Fashanu with the 11th pick in the first round.

While Robert Saleh‘s team bottomed out to end last season, finishing with a 7-10 record, the expectations for this season are sky-high. Hard Rock Bet gave the Jets the 11th-best odds to win the Super Bowl and the second shortest odds at +190 to win the AFC East, which projects to be a three-horse race with the Bills and the Miami Dolphins.

The Jets must deal with more unexcused absences, as LB Hasson Reddick has decided to skip training camp until he gets a new deal with the team. NYJ traded for the former Temple pass-rusher this past off-season, giving up a 2026 third-round pick that could turn into a second-rounder.