Culture
Aaron Rodgers, fined by the N.F.L. over vaccination rules, says he will stay with the Packers.
Inexperienced Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a four-time N.F.L. most respected participant, has agreed to stay with the staff, concluding his yearlong back-and-forth with the membership about his future.
The settlement seemingly resolves a extremely publicized rift between Rodgers, 38, and Common Supervisor Brian Gutekunst (and the Packers’ entrance workplace), which was rooted within the participant’s need to be extra concerned in administration selections.
Whereas Rodgers turned in a second consecutive M.V.P. season, the strain between the lads amplified scrutiny of Rodgers’s off-field missteps final season, together with his admission that he misled reporters about his vaccination standing after testing constructive for the coronavirus in November and his lashing out at “cancel tradition” in an interview with McAfee in the identical month.
His public feedback there and on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the place he mentioned he had petitioned the N.F.L. to rethink its vaccination insurance policies, made him a lightning rod for the help and derision of politicians, medical consultants and folks on each side of a debate over inoculating in opposition to Covid-19.
Rodgers examined constructive for the coronavirus in November, months after he informed reporters that he was “immunized,” in opposition to the illness. The N.F.L. fined him $14,650 for violating protocols for unvaccinated gamers, which included not carrying a masks throughout his weekly information conferences and attending a Halloween occasion.