Aaron Rodgers has received tons of backlash over his decision to not get vaccinated.
From the Twitter to mob, to sports fans, to media talking heads, to fellow athletes, and even NFL legends like Terry Bradshaw, the man has gotten the business to say the least.
After his decision, the NFL has decided to fine the Packers $300,000, and $14,000 himself, only for attending the team’s Halloween party…
The Packers have not punished the QB in anyway so far, nor did they require him to wear a mask at press conferences.
And according to some sources around the league, there are other teams who are “outraged,” and believe this penalty is not harsh enough.
According to Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk, many teams believe Rodgers got off easy:
“As one source put it on Tuesday night, ‘That’s bullshit.’ If, for example, someone engages in shoplifting twice a week for eight weeks, the person has committed 16 violations of the shoplifting laws. There should be 16 penalties.”
“Rodgers, however, got one penalty– for attending the team’s Halloween party. And the prior violations will go unpunished. Given that multiple teams faced multiple punishments last year (the Saints eventually lost a 2022 sixth-round draft pick), it comes off as favoritism for the Packers.”
“It’s also potentially an effort by the league to brush under the rug that fact that it knew or should have known Rodgers repeatedly was violating the press-conference mask protocol and doing nothing about it.
Ultimately, it became an issue only because he tested positive for COVID, and his true status came to light.”
And that’s the kicker, right?
The NFL knew that Aaron Rodgers wasn’t vaccinated from the very beginning, and the Green Bay Packers knew that he wasn’t vaccinated from the very beginning. Both the team AND the NFL let him walk up to the podium every week without a mask and didn’t say shit, but now that the media got ahold of it and Rodgers is public enemy number one, they should fine him for every time he stepped to the mic?
All politics aside, it does appear Rodgers got off pretty easy, given the fact that the Saints got fined and lost a draft pick for repeat violations. But at the end of the day, if the NFL and the Packers aren’t going to enforce their own mask rules, why should that be Aaron Rodgers’ fault?
Man, 2021 is wild.
Needless to say I’m going to be betting it all on the Packers this week… nobody plays as well as a pissed off Aaron Rodgers.
