Jets' C.J. Mosley can't wait to see Aaron Rodgers practice against someone else, for a change
Jets QB Jets Aaron Rodgers throws during training camp at the team's training facility in Florham Park, N.J., on Aug. 8. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — There are a lot of things C.J. Mosley wants to take care of in these coming days as the Jets face the Panthers in a series of joint practices in South Carolina.
As the leader of the defense, he’s going to make sure all the signals and checks are squared away. He wants to make sure everyone on the unit is pulling their own weight. He wants to see the kind of determination and grit that he believes can lead them to a championship.
But he’s just like the rest of us.
He wants to see Aaron Rodgers in action.
That, after all, is the reason these Jets are so compelling and a legitimate contender heading into a season that begins in earnest in a little over a month. While Rodgers has been with the team since April, he has yet to face anyone other than the Jets during his tenure.
So when the Jets take the field Wednesday morning at Wofford College, all eyes will be the quarterback.
All eyes.
“I want to see what our guys can do against somebody else,” Mosley said of the offense. “I’m just excited and ready to see it. I’m going to be a fan, just watching what our offense can do, too.”
That optimism is a new sensation for Mosley and the rest of the defenders who have been with the Jets the last few years. Normally – and down the stretch last year in particular – they would watch their offense through their fingers, ready to sprint back on the field at a turnover’s notice, gasping as much oxygen as they could before the almost inevitable three-and-out signaled their return to action. While they played defense at a top tier level, ranked fifth in the NFL, it was the offense and the quarterback play that sunk the team into yet another season without a postseason berth.
That should no longer be a problem. At least not as long as Rodgers can stay healthy.
The Jets’ starting defense likely will also be happy for a brief respite from getting carved up by the 19-year veteran and four-time MVP for a few days. Mosley told tales about facing Rodgers and his no-look passes in the workouts, or the time Mosley came to the line of scrimmage, recognized a formation and barked out the play to the other defenders, only to have Rodgers hear him, smile, and change it.
“I was like ‘Oh man, that’s different right there,’” Mosley said. “Little stuff like that is very cool to see.”
Even cooler when Rodgers does it to someone else.
Rodgers won’t be the only quarterback making his debut in one uniform against another in the next few days. First overall draft pick Bryce Young will be running things for the Panthers’ offense. It will be his first time ever going against an opposing NFL defense.
There will be a difference between facing a Hall of Famer and a rookie.
“I’m sure the veteran has a few more tricks up his sleeve,” Mosley said.
That doesn’t mean the Jets will exhale.
“I don’t underestimate anyone,” safety Tony Adams said. “He was the first pick for a reason. I know he’s gonna bring it. But we’re coming too.”
The Jets have already played a preseason contest this summer, participating in the Hall of Fame Game last week against the Browns, and they’ll play the Panthers in another on Saturday night. Rodgers didn’t dress for the first and won’t for the next either. These exhibition games have lost much of their weight in recent years regarding the way teams prep for the regular season. Starters barely, if ever, play in them and the joint practices between two teams are much more commonly used to bring everyone up to actual game speed. The Giants are spending this week doing the same in Detroit with the Lions and the Jets will have another set of dual workouts with the Bucs in New Jersey next week.
The Jets are not expected to use their starters until perhaps their fourth preseason game against the Giants toward the end of this month. Some of them may not play until the opener.
That leaves what takes place on the practice fields against the Panthers on Wednesday and Thursday as the first and best sense we can get of what Rodgers actually brings to the Jets.
“[Wednesday] is going to be our first real taste of it,” Mosley said.
Competition, yes. Someone wearing a different color, sure. But their first real taste of Rodgers, too.
They plan on savoring it.
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.
