Stephen A. Smith slams Aaron Rodgers, calls Green Bay Packers QB a coward
For the second time this year, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is at the center of a controversy in Green Bay.
Not only is the quarterback currently ill with COVID-19, he misled the public about his vaccination status leading to a massive controversy that implicates both him and his team.
On Thursday, ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith offered a passionate take on Rodgers’ situation that extends beyond this COVID-19 episode.
“He comes across as a coward,” Smith said on First Take. “If you’re not vaccinated – man up and say so. He wanted his cake and to eat it too. He didn’t want to get vaccinated, but in the same breath didn’t want to have to deal with the questions or potential fallouts of being an unvaccinated player.”
Of course, this has been a controversy-riddled year for Rodgers after an offseason full of speculation about his relationship with the Packers front office and head coach Matt LaFleur and constant conversation about his future in Green Bay. Smith believes this recent COVID-19 situation will have an impact on the way that debate is discussed moving forward.
“What that brings into question is what else were you that way about?” Smith added. “If you cared so much about how you were going to be looked upon, if you cared so much about avoiding controversy, avoiding questions and probing and all of this other stuff with this, what other issues were you that way about? That, I promise you, eventually is going to be a question mark. Folks are now going to use this as an excuse to now question everything you said about everything that’s been going on over the last couple of years.
“They’re going to ask all of these things because something as basic as being honest about whether you were vaccinated or not pertains to following safety protocols handed down [from] the National Football League. Not only could you not be honest about that, with a smirk on your face, you tried to deceive everybody. And damn it, it worked.”
Packers being investigated for role in Rodgers situation
On Wednesday evening, news broke that the NFL is investigating Green Bay’s handling of the Rodgers situation.
In a Wednesday video of the Packers quarterback speaking to the media, he was absent a face mask throughout the availability, which led many to wonder whether Rodgers and the Packers committed a violation of the league’s COVID protocol. NFL senior reporter Albert Breer gave additional insight on the rule.
“Checked on whether Packers QB Aaron Rodgers was in violation of COVID-19 protocols by talking to the media unmasked,” Breer tweeted. “Was referred back to rules that unvaccinated players must be masked at all times inside team facilities – which includes press conferences. So the answer is yes.”
On3’s Justin Rudolph contributed to this report.