FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers' next snap in a game for the New York Jets might be the season opener.
Coach Robert Saleh said Tuesday his “instinct” is to keep the 40-year-old quarterback on the sideline for all three of the Jets' preseason games this summer. But Saleh also left open the possibility of Rodgers playing in the finale against the Giants on Aug. 24.
Rodgers hasn't played since tearing his left Achilles tendon four snaps into last year's season opener.
“We haven't really talked about it,” Saleh said after practice. "My instinct right now as I stand here is we'll see. ... My instinct is no, but I want to leave it open. That third game is the one where we're deciding.
“He definitely won't play in the first two, but the discussion on the third one we haven't quite had yet.”
Rodgers typically didn't play in the preseason during his last several years in Green Bay. But he played in two series in the Jets' finale last summer against the Giants, throwing a touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson on his last snap. Rodgers asked to play in that game to use it as a final tune-up for the regular season.
The Jets will have one joint practice against each of their preseason opponents — Washington, Carolina and the Giants — and Saleh sees a lot of value in those for players preparing for the regular season.
“Those preseason practices are so game like,” Saleh said. “The only difference is you’re not tackling. And so we feel comfortable that we’re getting the reps we need, the game-like reps, we need in a controlled environment.”
The Jets open the regular season in San Francisco against the defending NFC champion 49ers on Sept. 9 on “Monday Night Football.”
NOTES: The Jets signed TE/FB Anthony Firkser and released FB Nick Bawden. Firkser began his NFL career with the Jets in 2017 when he was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Harvard. He also has been with the Chiefs, Titans, Falcons, Patriots and Lions. Bawden, who spent the past three seasons with the Jets, had been activated from the physically unable to perform list Monday after being sidelined by an unspecified injury.
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New York Jets' Sauce Gardner, right, greets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) during practice at the NFL football team's training facility in Florham Park, N.J., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers participates in practice at the NFL football team's training facility in Florham Park, N.J., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers participates in practice at the NFL football team's training facility in Florham Park, N.J., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Jets quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, right, and Tyrod Taylor (2) participate in practice at the NFL football team's training facility in Florham Park, N.J., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A fake video that ricocheted across the internet claiming tensions between France and the United Arab Emirates after Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's detention in Paris likely came from Russia, an analysis by The Associated Press shows, despite Moscow's efforts to maintain crucial ties to the UAE.
It remains unclear why Russian operatives would choose to publish such a video falsely claiming the Emirates halted a French arms sale, which appears to be the first noticeable effort by Moscow to target the UAE with a disinformation campaign. The Emirates remains one of the few locations to still have direct flights to Moscow, while Russian money has flooded into Dubai's booming real estate market since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
France, however, remains one of the key backers of Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the war grinds on. Meanwhile, Russia likely remains highly interested in what happens to Telegram, an app believed to be used widely by its military in the war and one that's also been used by activists in the past. And the move comes amid concerns in the United States over Russia, Iran and China interfering in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
Russia's Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
The fake video began circulating online Aug. 27, bearing the logos of the Qatar-based satellite news network Al Jazeera and attempting to copy the channel's style. It falsely claimed the Emirati government had halted a previously announced purchase of 80 Rafale fighter jets from France worth 16 billion euros ($18 billion) at the time, the largest-ever French weapons contract for export. It also sought to link Dubai's ruler and his crown prince son to the decision, as Durov holds an Emirati passport and has lived in Dubai.
Such a decision, however, was never made. The UAE and France maintain close relations, with the French military operating a naval base in the country. French warplanes and personnel also are stationed in a major facility outside the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi.
Reached for comment, Al Jazeera told the AP that the footage was “fake and we refute this attribution to the media network.” The network never aired any such claim when reporting on Durov’s detention as well, according to an AP check. On the social platform X, a note later appended by the company to some posts with the video identified it as “manipulated media.”
The video also appeared to seek to exploit the low-level suspicion still gripping the Gulf Arab states following the yearslong Qatar diplomatic crisis by falsely attributing it to the news network. State-funded Al Jazeera has drawn criticism in the past from Gulf nations over its coverage of the 2011 Arab Spring, from the United States for airing videos from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and most recently in Israel, where authorities closed its operation over its coverage of the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The social media account that first spread the video did not respond to questions from the AP and later deleted its post. That account linked to another on the Telegram message app that repeatedly shared graphic images of dead Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Russian messages.
Such accounts have proliferated since the war began and bear the hallmark of past Russian disinformation campaigns.
In Ukraine, the Center for Countering Disinformation in Kyiv, a government project there focused on countering such Russian campaigns, told the AP that the account engaged in “systematic cross-quoting and reposting of content” associated with Russian state media and its government.
That indicates the account “is aimed at an international audience for the purpose of informational influence,” the center said. It “probably belongs to the Russian network of subversive information activities abroad.”
Other experts assessed the video to be likely Russian disinformation.
The Emirati government declined to comment. The French Embassy in Abu Dhabi did not respond to AP's request to comment.
Durov is now free on 5 million euros bail after being questioned by French authorities and preliminarily charged for allegedly allowing Telegram to be used for criminal activity. He has disputed the charges and promised to step up efforts to fight criminality on the messaging app.
Despite the video being flagged as fake online, captions and versions of the video continue to circulate, showing the challenge of trying to refute such messages. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov just attended a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Saudi Arabia attended by the UAE. Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have mediated prisoner exchanges amid the war.
Given those close ties, the UAE likely will or has reached out quietly to Moscow over the video, said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute who has long studied the region.
“It may be that this is a part of the Russian playbook which is to seek to create wedges between political and security partners, in a bid to create divisions and sow uncertainty," Ulrichsen said.
“The importance of the UAE to Russia post-2022 does make it unusual, but it may be that the campaign is aimed primarily at France and that any impact on the UAE’s image and reputation is a secondary issue as far as those behind the video are concerned.”
Associated Press writer Volodymr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
FILE - United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron pose for photographers ahead of their working dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Thursday, May 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
