As he enters what he adamantly insists will be his final season in the NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers hasn’t lost his inclination to share unadulterated opinions, popular or otherwise. During training camp, Rodgers turned heads when he appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and called former NIAID director Anthony Fauci an “absolute coward” for invoking the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times while testifying before Congress.
In the same appearance, the four-time NFL MVP called out ESPN, the network he was appearing on, for previously covering his COVID-19 vaccination status, but skating around the scandalous relationship between NFL insider Dianna Russini and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel.
In a two-part interview for teammate Cam Heyward’s Not Just Football with Cam Heyward podcast, Rodgers doubled down on his criticisms of the worldwide leader.
“ESPN is really scared,” Rodgers asserted. “Because I can speak up and speak my mind. And that McAfee thing rattled their feathers because I didn’t just say that on McAfee’s show—honestly, I love Pat, and he’s done more for that network than any other horrible show they have on there—they should pay those guys doing it.
“But I also said, ‘you’re a gutless organization,’ because they haven’t said anything. They spend so much time on certain issues, but you won’t talk one second about the Danny Russini situation?”
Aaron Rodgers then questioned ESPN’s motives in heavily reporting on San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York’s arrest on prostitution charges but not treating Russini and Vrabel’s relationship the same way.
“Let’s see, the owner of the Niners, yeah, solicited a prostitute for $140 in Ohio. That literally was the number one topic,” Rodgers said. “When you click on ESPN.com, they will rotate the 8 stories or whatever they have, but they usually have the one story that’s featured. That was the featured story.
“So you’re bringing how many millions of eyes to that situation? Why do you want to throw Jed York under the bus? I don’t know. But does that have the same effect as a reporter who has intimate relations with a coach who has a vote for MVP, has a vote for Coach of the Year?… The fact that ESPN spent zero time on that story, but Jed York gets popped in San Fran, it’s literally on the top of their, of their roll right now. That’s hypocrisy.”
Heyward’s childhood best friend and podcast co-host Hayden Walsh asked if he thought there was a reason ESPN neglected to cover the story more significantly.
“I think there’s a lot more to it,” Rodgers responded. “The NFL is going to protect the shield, and I respect that. But they’re gonna do by all means necessary.”
Walsh noted the new partnership between ESPN and the NFL. ESPN and its top journalists have defended its ability to cover the NFL with neutrality in spite of the league’s part-ownership of the network, but it seems as if the Steelers quarterback will never be convinced that the partnership isn’t already affecting their coverage.
“You’re taking the words out of my mouth,” the quarterback said.
Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers will face Mike Vrabel’s Patriots in New England on September 20.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.