Earlier this week, Robert Saleh, the head coach of the New York Jets, expressed indifference towards quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ discussions of topics like COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories during his regular appearances on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Jets beat reporter Brian Costello from the New York Post delved further into this matter in a recent piece.
“Inside the team, there are those who applaud Rodgers for having the guts to challenge the mainstream media. There are plenty of people who agree with his view on COVID and vaccines but would never say so publicly out of fear of the backlash.”
Criticism from some quarters within the NFL community was directed at Rodgers, accusing him of seeking attention and being hypocritical. This criticism arose after the future Hall of Famer had stated on Monday that irrelevant distractions needed to be eliminated from the Jets’ environment to focus on winning. However, on Tuesday’s episode of McAfee’s show, Rodgers delved into controversial subjects that had no connection to the team or his recovery from a torn Achilles injury suffered on September 11.
On Wednesday, McAfee disclosed that Rodgers would not be making any appearances on the show during the NFL playoffs. The retired punter later expressed his hope on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) that Rodgers might still engage with their show after the postseason concludes.
Surprisingly, Rodgers made a return to McAfee’s show on Thursday afternoon.
As of now, there’s no indication that Jets owner Woody Johnson, general manager Joe Douglas, Robert Saleh, or any other members of the organization will request Rodgers to cease his appearances on “The Pat McAfee Show” or impose restrictions on the topics he discusses during these segments.
Whether Aaron Rodgers himself will conclude that addressing certain issues on McAfee’s program is unrelated to the team’s winning prospects remains to be seen.
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