Packers excuse Rodgers, other veterans from minicamp

The Green Bay Packers opened their mandatory minicamp Tuesday, but the session apparently wasn't mandatory for everyone.

Head coach Mike McCarthy said before Tuesday's practice that quarterback Aaron Rodgers, along with more than a dozen other veteran players, were excused from the sessions after undergoing their physicals on Monday.

"They were excited," McCarthy said, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN. "It was kind of a funny meeting when I called them all in the room and Randall Cobb walked in and Jordy (Nelson) just started chuckling. I said, 'Tell me about it.' (Twenty-five) year old Randall Cobb's now part of the vet select group. Makes you feel old."

McCarthy pointed to the extra work during the preseason the Packers will have to do as a reason for giving his veterans a rest.

"There's a lot of thought that goes into training the football team," McCarthy said. "Frankly, the Hall of Fame game is a big part of this decision. We have an extra week of work. So really if you look at the veteran's workload as far as the nine-week offseason program, training camp and everything leading up to the beginning of this season, they're excused from three practices today but they'll have four or five practices that first week. So they'll actually still have the same amount of work or a little more than they would in a normal training camp.

"So that's the starting point. And then with that, playing an extra preseason game our young players are going to play a lot more. This gives us another four or five practices to get those young players ready to play in that game. That's really the baseline of the decision, and I thought it definitely was a win-win for everybody."

The Packers are expected to open training camp nearly a week earlier than last year due to the Hall of Fame game against the Indianapolis Colts on August 7.