For C.J. Mosley, it was the number of cameras at the Jets’ headquarters on Wednesday.
For Alijah Vera-Tucker, it was seeing the new double-decker bleachers installed for training camp, with covers to shield all the fans from the sun.
Whatever it was, the Jets could sense something different as they reported for the most anticipated training camp in memory.
“The energy does feel different,” cornerback D.J. Reed said. “It definitely feels like there is more excitement coming into this year.”
Why is that?
“That’s a good question,” Reed said. “I would say we got Aaron Rodgers.”
Oh yeah, that guy.
The Jets made the splash of the offseason when they acquired Rodgers from the Packers in April, and he brings massive expectations with him.
The years of the Jets talking about their goals of developing young players and just improving are over.
There is no doubt what the 2023 team is chasing.
Rodgers has talked about winning the Super Bowl, and he has raised the goals throughout the organization.
“Bringing a guy like him into the building just excites everybody in general because of the résumé he has, the character he is, the guy that he is,” defensive tackle Quinnen Williams said. “He brings a spark to everybody. A spark to the defense because we get to go against a Hall of Fame quarterback every single day at practice, bring a spark to me because I get to ask him questions, pick his brain about all the great D-tackles, great D-linemen that he’s played against that gave him problems. I’m pretty sure he’ll bring a huge spark to the offense.”
The Jets will be on the field for their first practice Thursday.
There will be throngs of media there to chronicle every throw, every smile and every quip from the 39-year-old quarterback.
The cameras for the HBO series “Hard Knocks” will be a heavy presence, then the fans will get their first look this weekend when practices will be open to the public, and they will get to try out the fancy new bleachers.
Veteran fans of training camp will be able to feel the difference.
“You can start with all the cameras that are around to start off the first day,” Mosley said. “Obviously, we have a big name in Aaron Rodgers here and on his first day here you could feel a lot of screws and bolts tighten up. That’s to come as expected with the name that he carries.”
The Jets have been starved for success for most of the past 12 years now.
You have to go back to the last time HBO had cameras in camp, in 2010, for a time when the Jets had expectations like this.
They now must walk the fine line of embracing the expectations but not falling into the trap of believing the hype.
“It’s a whole lot of excitement coming in,” Vera-Tucker said. “I feel like everybody in the facility knows what kind of team we have and knows what we can do with the roster. So now it’s time to come out and prove that to ourselves, not to anybody else, but ourselves. I think overall, it’s just good vibes in the facility today. Everybody’s smiling, laughing, talking with each other, chopping it up. I can tell we’re eager to get on the field and get to it.”
And what kind of team is that?
“We know we have a good roster,” Vera-Tucker said, “we have a good team and that we should get a lot of wins this year.”
Mosley has been vocal since he arrived in 2019 about changing the culture around the team.
He said he knows why people are now talking about the team.
“We’re the New York Jets, that’s why. You can take it any way you want it,” Mosley said. “When people hear the New York Jets, they’re either going to think losses, or now when they hear the New York Jets, they’re going to think automatic Super Bowl. We can’t think that way. We have to stay focused.”