Sauce Gardner comes to defense of Aaron Rodgers for skipping Jets' minicamp

Aaron Rodgers is nowhere to be found at New York Jets' mandatory minicamp, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for their all-world defensive back Sauce Gardner. He tweeted on Thursday night that we are truly making a mountain out of a molehill of the situation. Clearly, it seems as though Gardner and other key team leaders and performers have Rodgers' back in his extended absence.

Rodgers supposedly had a trip planned before learning the dates of the NFL's mandatory minicamp schedule. As long as he had this cleared by his coaching staff and his teammates are okay with it, then it shouldn't be a problem, right? I am not in the locker room or at the team complex in Florham Park, but I do have to wonder if this is the kind of distraction the Jets need heading into this season.

For the record, the Jets have not made the AFC playoffs since the last time Aaron Rodgers played in and won a Super Bowl. That would be 2010. Mark Sanchez had yet to Butt Fumble and Rex Ryan did not need to get the tattoo of his wife's name, image and likeness updated on his bicep. Yeah, that long. On paper, New York should make the AFC playoffs, but too bad paper doesn't play out in games.

If this were to happen on a team like the Kansas City Chiefs, no big deal, but for the Jets, it kind of is.

I am going to go back and forth all offseason on if the Jets will finally end their postseason drought.

Sauce Gardner defends Aaron Rodgers for skipping NY Jets minicamp

The other big mitigating factor in all of this for me is not only the type of pressure the Jets are under the season, but also how last year went. Rodgers did not even make it through his only start as the face of the franchise. Nobody can ever predict when precious sinew in your lower body is going to snap, but you do see Kirk Cousins practicing in his first season with the Atlanta Falcons, don't you?

Rodgers is way more talented than Cousins, but he has not been a distraction since arriving in Flowery Branch, tampering and Michael Penix Jr. concerns aside. What I am getting at is Rodgers being at mandatory minicamp should have been a priority for him this offseason. I get that he is a future Hall of Famer, into his 40s and kind of likes to do his own thing, but he is running out of time.

New York threw a Hail Mary to get him to come two offseasons ago. He may totally redeem himself this year, but it if looks like a lemon and smells like a lemon, it might in fact be a lemon. To be fair, I like lemons. They are delicious citrus fruits that make all sorts of foods taste better. But when it comes to cars and quarterbacks, you are going to want to run for the hills in the complete opposite direction.

The margin between winning and losing is razor thin, so don't make it any harder than it has to be.