Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is skeptical of the NFL's COVID-19 protocols.
During an appearance on FanDuel's “The Pat McAfee Show”, the MVP candidate critiqued what he perceives as a “double-standard” within the league's restrictions. He lamented not being able to communicate with his teammates and coaches in the same manner as usual, which he says “puts a strain on locker room camaraderie.”
Per Mark Maske of The Washington Post, the league updated its protocols in October after the outbreak in the Tennessee Titans facility. Teams and players can get fined or lose draft picks for breaking the rules.
“Proponents of all that say it's necessary to get us to the finish line … I think there's a lot of questions about, ‘Are we doing all this based on science? … There's some interesting conversations to be had down the line about all that.”
However, Aaron Rodgers adamantly pushed back on McAfee's notion that the league should ease up on protocols.
“I'm definitely not saying that … I'm saying, What is this based on? I just think there’s some double standards … You can dap up a guy after the game, but you can’t eat at the same lunch table as a teammate? You can go down to practice and hit each other and be in close contact, but you have to have plexiglass in between you and the guy next to you in the locker room?”
The Packers have had two players recently test positive for COVID-19.
Aaron Rodgers said he understands the NFL's intentions, but the inconsistencies in the protocols “just don't really add up.”
“I understand what we’re tryin' to do, we’re trying to get every game in and stay healthy…I just think that some things make sense and then some things don’t make a lot of sense.”
“They said before the season that we can't talk to anybody after a game … There’s spit and sweat and all this stuff and we hit and we're tackling — and we can't go and talk to somebody who we know on another team?… Some of it is definitely for the optics of it. Some of it is probably based on science.”
"I just think there's some double standards… You can dap up a guy after the game but you can't eat at the same lunch table as a teammate"@AaronRodgers12 on the COVID protocols #PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/7RqyrUgSWQ
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 10, 2020
Aaron Rodgers, who also recently reacted to the death of Alex Trebek, and the Packers are coming off a 34-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 9, and will host the Jacksonville Jaguars this coming weekend.
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