Aaron Rodgers Hits Back At Critics Over IR Decision, COVID Vaccine Stance
Aaron Rodgers continues to be in the news, even though his season is officially over, thanks to the New York Jets' roster decision.
Rodgers has been rehabbing from his torn Achilles, and despite his initial hopes, wasn't healthy enough to be cleared to return to the field. The Jets though, decided to place him on the 53-man roster so that he could continue practicing. While perhaps beneficial, it took a spot away from someone on the fringes of the roster.
Unsurprisingly, given how sports media frequently criticizes him for virtually everything, he was hit hard for the roster choice.
But during his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers said he had nothing to do with it; the Jets overruled what he wanted.
"I assumed I was gonna go on IR. I asked to be put on IR,” Rodgers said told McAfee. "There was a conversation ‘do you want to practice,’ and I said ‘not at the expense of somebody getting cut.’ I know how this works." He continued, "I didn’t feel like I needed to practice to continue my rehab. I could do on-the-field stuff on the side.
“But obviously I got overruled there, maybe it is what it is. That was an interesting situation. I called Nick right away, just said ‘I hope you know this isn’t coming from me. I asked them to put me on IR.'”
And he also had some thoughts on how sportswriters and their obsession with the COVID vaccine is playing a role too.
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - NOVEMBER 24: Aaron Rodgers looks on from the sideline during a game against the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium. (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
Aaron Rodgers Thinks His Stance On Medical Freedom Impacts Criticism
Rodgers explained that he believes a lot of the, inaccurate, critiques of his supposed stealing of a roster spot goes back to his decision in 2021 to not get the COVID vaccine.
“Before they talk, let’s go back to 2021 and let’s make people say their vax status to start,” Rodgers said. “That’ll frame all these comments in the right window. Before they say something, let’s have them say, and ESPN is probably going to shut us off here, let’s have them say ‘hey, I’m so-and-so, double vaxxed with Pfizer and triple boosted, and my opinion is this guy is a bad guy because he just wanted to practice and took money away.’
“At least then you’d know, and everybody would know at that point, they have their puppet masters who are puppeteering them to say this certain thing about this guy, and they’re still upset about the fact that I believe in medical freedom. It’s the same tired narrative.”
And he certainly has a point. Prominent sports media commentators still bring up Rodgers' decision as a some kind of negative personality trait. Impressively, despite being repeatedly proven wrong about COVID over and over and over again, most NFL writers refuse to admit it.
Rodgers made a justifiable, easily defensible decision that had no impact on COVID spread on his team or around his family or others. But acknowledging that would undermine their reasoning and political ideologies, so it's discarded or ignored.
But that doesn't change reality. They were wrong about COVID vaccines, and wrong about the IR roster decision.