Aaron Rodgers gave Bryce Young 4 words of advice when Jets practiced with Panthers
Aaron Rodgers is 39 years old, has won four NFL Most Valuable Player trophies and has thrown 475 touchdown passes.
Bryce Young is 22 years old, has won a Heisman Trophy, and is an NFL rookie with zero touchdown passes.
So when the two met up before the Panthers’ joint practice with the New York Jets Wednesday, you can probably guess who was doing the most talking. Young is a sponge anyway in those situations, and in this one he was literally looking up at Rodgers (who is 6-foot-2, compared to Young’s 5-10) with an expression of wonder.
Rodgers has always been a deep, independent and sometimes contrarian thinker. So when asked about what advice he would give Young a few hours later, he started off by responding with four words.
“Be gentle with yourself,” Rodgers said.
What does that mean exactly?
Rodgers went on to explain it like this.
“It’s a long journey,” the QB who has been in the NFL since 2005 said. “It feels like every little snap at practice is the end of the world if it doesn’t go right. It’s just not true…. It’s about holding onto your confidence, enjoying the ride, enjoying the little things every day. I think he (Young) has a great head on his shoulders. He’ll be just fine.”
During Young’s press conference, I asked him about Rodgers’ “be gentle with yourself” comment. Rodgers apparently hadn’t put it in exactly that way when the two talked for several minutes Wednesday.
Said Young: “When you talk about someone like Aaron Rodgers, who’s had so much success for so long, any advice he gives, I’m definitely receptive to it…. I’ll definitely take that into account.”
As for the practice itself, Young did seem to be shaking off mistakes rather than compounding them, a trait that has been in evidence throughout training camp. Before the biggest audience for a camp practice in Spartanburg this year — 10,217 free tickets were distributed, with a sizable number going to Jets fans — Young had one tipped-ball interception but also threw a bunch of darts.
In the final two-minute drills that closed practice, Rodgers’ offense went three-and-out against Carolina’s defense, but Young, the No. 1 overall draft pick of 2023, moved the ball down the field decently well for a Carolina field goal.
Rodgers, author of the famous “R-E-L-A-X” quote in 2014 when playing for Green Bay, didn’t seem to put much stock into the brief outcome one way or the other. Said Rodgers, who also is playing a starring role in the latest HBO “Hard Knocks” series about his new team: “I thought we were pretty good… Pass game — there were some issues.”
Said Jets center Connor McGovern: “They (the Panthers) might have surprised us for a second. Obviously, in 2-minute, we’ve gotta finish better than that.”
Young impressed the Jets with how fast he got rid of the ball. “Real good rhythm thrower,” said Jets linebacker Quincy Williams. “It’s really 1-2 (seconds) and he’s getting it out.”
The two quarterbacks will see each other again Thursday when the two teams do a less intense practice, then on Saturday at 4 p.m. when the Panthers and Jets play a preseason game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. The two QBs will have different assignments there: Rodgers isn’t playing Saturday, since he rarely plays in the preseason anymore, even when he’s just joined a new team.
Young will, however, likely get a couple of series at least and is definitely playing.
Rodgers said he didn’t watch much of Young in the live drills Wednesday since the two quarterbacks were on separate fields 90% of the time. But the two Californians share an agent, and Rodgers had seen Young play on TV a lot at Alabama.
“I loved watching him in college,” Rodgers said of Young. “I like his movement. I like his demeanor. I like the way he throws. I trust a guy like Adam (Thielen, the new Panthers wide receiver). He and I are good buddies, and he just raves about him. So I think Carolina is in good hands.”
