The war of words between Aaron Rodgers and Ryan Clark was stoked once again on Wednesday, this time due to a scathing video released by Clark criticizing the New York Jets quarterback’s “hypocrisy” and general lack of self-awareness.
The nearly five-minute long video posted to Clark’s social media channels shows the ESPN analyst take direct aim at Rodgers after the struggling quarterback spent over two minutes criticizing his vaccination status on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday.
I won’t let Aaron Rodgers’ vax smoke screen distract me from the stench of the tape. He’s entitled to his opinion, but to say you aren’t concerned with what we say is a lie… I mean it’s the reason we are here.
It’s a continuation of his hypocrisy that started with criticizing… pic.twitter.com/Ko0ogDFHnQ
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) December 18, 2024
“Here is why I called Aaron Rodgers, or why I called you, a hypocrite,” Clark addressed the Jets quarterback. “You’re actually on ESPN talking about my fellow colleagues and the people I work with saying that now, because they are former players and weren’t as great of players as you were…they feel like they’re the stars. And that’s not it. TV has changed. It’s more about opinion and the informed opinion of people that have played the game. What’s hypocritical about what you said is you said it while on TV with Pat McAfee, who has done an amazing job with his platform. And even though he was an All-Pro punter, he is now extremely famous and more well known for what he does in his post career.
“Even more hypocritical of you, that you’re sitting across from three people who have never played the game. And they are also entitled to talk about football in a very informed way because — if we’ve learned anything from Mina Kimes — you don’t actually have to step on the field to be excellent at the job of analyzing football. And I spoke to that hypocrisy because you were getting paid to do that, which Pat said you deserved to. And that is why you received money that you did, at least initially, because of what you brought to his platform.
“Now, let me be clear, because I know you want us to list these things. My name is Ryan Clark. Played 13 years in the NFL. Been to two Super Bowls. Have as many rings as you do. I was the captain of two separate football teams. I’m also an Emmy winner. I’m also a co-host, owner, and partner of an Emmy nominated podcast called The Pivot.
“Now I know something else you were very interested in was my vaccination status. And yes, I’m vaxed because I have no spleen, have no gallbladder. …And as far as your vaccination status — so you can stop trying to trick people into thinking that we want to talk about that above the stink of your film — I’ve never heard it one more time after your incident. And the only reason we spoke about it then was based on your vaccination status, it was going to determine how long you were out. And also people didn’t care that you weren’t vaccinated, they cared that you were slimy about it. They cared that you were deceitful about it. And they cared that you had this air of arrogance when answering the questions about it. And you’ve kind of been the only person that has talked about it since.
“But let me be very very clear. My job is to analyze you. You’ve decided to analyze me. And in analyzing you, what I know is your QBR is 21st. I also know that you’re the quarterback of a 4-10 team that has to win the last three games of the season to even be equal to what last year’s team was without you.
“Now, I get it. You get on the show and you talk about my broach and you curse and all this tough talk. I just need you to know, none of that scares me. I’m gonna do my job the way I’m supposed to do it. I feel no way about being able to talk about what the film says because of what my career was. And if you continue to be arrogant, or smug, or hypocritical, and it pertains to my job, I’m going to do it.”
Clark did not pull punches in his statement. Rodgers decided to make the spat decidedly personal during his McAfee appearance on Tuesday, and Clark clearly felt compelled to respond directly.
As Clark made point of saying in his video, this entire saga wouldn’t be so bad if Rodgers was performing on the field. Yet, his poor play this season may have the Jets finishing with a worse record than when Zach Wilson was the starting quarterback last season. It’s hard to ignore the incessant attacks on his critics when Rodgers himself isn’t holding up his end of the bargain.
We, as a sports media consuming society, can only hope that Clark’s video is the end of this storyline. Most people would prefer to hear about a quarterback on a winning team, not one that hasn’t played in a relevant game since the COVID era, which is clearly where Rodgers is stuck.
[X/@Realclark25]
