Aaron Rodgers opted to throw instead of run.
The Jets quarterback said the choice between returning to Gang Green or becoming Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential running mate was an easy one, as the independent candidate posited in March.
“I love Bobby,” he said Tuesday. “We had a couple of really nice conversations. But there were really two options. It was retire and be his VP or keep playing and I want to keep playing.”
In April, Rodgers appeared to endorse RFK, a fellow vaccine skeptic, in an Instagram post promoting the QB’s appearance on a podcast, writing “Kennedy 2024” under a video clip.
Rodgers, at OTAs with the Jets this week, seemingly went hiking with Kennedy in February, as he was rehabbing his torn Achilles.
The 40-year-old suffered the injury four plays into the Jets’ 2023 season opener, instantly damaging what the franchise had hoped was going to be a competitive season.
For the Jets, there was seemingly little concern Rodgers would actually venture into politics instead of coming back to Florham Park.
“I think it was viewed a little bit differently in the political world than it was, at least in our world,” coach Robert Saleh said at the NFL’s league meetings in Orlando in March.
“I hope he feels like he has some candidates for Director of Homeland Security, Secretary of Defense, now that we’ve fortified the O-line,” GM Joe Douglas joked. “When all that was getting out there, I was focused on nothing but improving the team. I didn’t take it very seriously.”
For now, Rodgers is focused on taking his first competitive snaps in almost a year.
He took part in Tuesday’s practice, the Jets’ second of the OTA session, with no restrictions, and impressed with his trademark tight passing and even did some running — the athletic kind.
“I have a lot of motivation,” Rodgers said Tuesday after the Jets’ second OTA practice. “I love the game. I want to play at a high level. I don’t want to go out, as I’ve said before, as a bum. I want to be able to play. That’s why I put the work in. I believe in my abilities. You guys saw it today.
“There’s no pads on but I can obviously still throw with the best of them.”