Less than a week after the Green Bay Packers knocked off the NFL’s final undefeated team, Aaron Rodgers is making headlines for all the wrong reasons after it was announced the quarterback tested positive for Covid-19. Rodgers, it is believed, arrived at training camp this summer and played the first eight weeks of the season without being vaccinated after telling the media he was “immunized.” How bad does the NFL look with their reigning MVP testing positive for Covid; and how should the league deal with Aaron Rodgers now that he is out of action?
#Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is unvaccinated, per me and @MikeGarafolo. That’s why he’s out for Sunday vs. the #Chiefs.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 3, 2021
Here’s the video on August 26th when Aaron Rodgers was directly asked if he had been vaccinated pic.twitter.com/kskQDRpWi8
— Chancellor Johnson (@ChancellorTV) November 3, 2021
The current policy around the NFL is that all team support and administrative personnel who have contact with players must be vaccinated; however, due to issues involving the collective bargaining agreement, the mandate does not apply to the players nor to each team’s coaching staff. As many in the media pointed out during the summer, many players held their press conferences during training camp outside and kept their distance from those covering the team to avoid any Covid related issues.
Aaron Rodgers, however, was seen on the sidelines during preseason games without a mask as well as when he interacted with NFL media during training camp and the regular season. All this despite knowing he had never been vaccinated. This has called into question how the NFL as well as the Green Bay Packers were enforcing the league’s Covid health and safety protocols.
Needless to say, this is a very bad look for Aaron Rodgers, the Packers as well as the NFL. Now the quarterback, while upset that vaccination status leaked out, looks bad and will miss at least one game and maybe two. This while the league is forced to answer questions from the same media members that Rodgers endangered by lying to the Packers. So, will the NFL have the nerve to suspend Aaron Rodgers after he returns to full health, or will they find another way to keep him off the field after he made his team and the league look bad?
My gut is telling me that Rodgers may not be back for two weeks, with the NFL telling the Packers behind the scenes not to activate him for their week 10 game against Seattle, because if they do, he will be suspended. I also think the NFL will send a letter to Mr. Rodgers and ask him to mail back a check as punishment for his behavior, with the QB probably laughing and sending back a letter of his own telling commissioner Roger Goodell what to do with the check.
Call him a diva or entitled or anything else you want to call Aaron Rodgers, but he is not the only player or even quarterback to do what he did here, he is just the first one to get caught. Perhaps other teams will see the negative backlash the Packers are facing and do something to avoid it happening to their team, or they will continue to roll the dice and play around with the safety of those that cover the team. Either way, the league should do more to Rodgers, such as suspend him, but they won’t since by doing do, they will make themselves look bad.