During Aaron Rodgers’ vaccine controversy, Pat McAfee said on his YouTube show that Rodgers has “no chance” of defending his MVP crown due to the quarterback’s comments.
“Aaron ain’t never winning another MVP, no matter how he plays,” McAfee said in November. “The MVP is voted on by the media, right? There ain’t no chance of another MVP.”
Well, fast forward eight weeks, and it looks like McAfee was wrong. Rodgers has been on fire since he returned from his COVID-19 absence and is now the odds-on favorite to win the NFL MVP award.
The Green Bay Packers quarterback, who misled reporters about his vaccination status in the preseason, isn’t the only athlete who was deceptive about his vaccination status, and he isn’t the only one who is thriving. Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown, fresh off his three-game suspension for submitting a fake vaccination card, is close to hitting incentives in his contract and gearing up for a playoff run.
After Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 in November and it was reported that he was unvaccinated, his status confused many, since he told reporters in August that he was “immunized” when asked if he had received the shot. Rodgers then gave an impassioned defense on McAfee’s show, claiming the “woke mob” was going to “cancel” him and that the media was in a “witch hunt” against unvaccinated players.
The interview sparked a weekend of criticism against the three-time MVP-winner — from the typical voices on Twitter to those on ESPN to Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw and NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Brown, meanwhile, was suspended earlier this month for submitting a fake vaccination card. Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians, who is currently on the COVID-19 list after testing positive, had said in the preseason that his team was 100% vaccinated against the virus. But Brown, in addition to teammate Mike Edwards, were caught by the league for their fake cards after an investigation. The former Steelers wide receiver, through his attorney, has maintained that he is vaccinated.
Rodgers’ and Brown’s vaccine controversies drew comparisons to the athletes who were honest — sometimes aggressively so — about how they didn’t want to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Cole Beasley, a second-team All-Pro slot wideout for the Bills last season, was arguably the loudest voice against the COVID-19 vaccine. He tested positive last week and missed Buffalo’s Week 16 game against the Patriots.
“I don’t have a problem with anybody getting the vaccine,” Beasley tweeted in May in one of his many posts about the vaccine and the NFL’s policies. “That is YOUR choice. My problem is everyone is ridiculing and bullying people on here into getting one or thinking the same way about it. It’s becoming that way with any issue. This is not OK.”
Brown, who some thought could be released by Arians due to the coach’s proclamation last year that the wideout was on his last strike, caught 10 passes for 101 yards in his first game back on Sunday. He lost about $300,000 from his suspension, but he has a chance to earn $1.3 million in incentives in the final two weeks of the season. He can earn extra money if he catches 11 passes to get to 50 on the season, scores two touchdowns to get to seven, totals 81 receiving yards to get to 600 or records 281 yards through the air to get to 800. Each incentive would net him an extra $333,333.
Rodgers, meanwhile, has been unstoppable in his last five games since being fully healthy from his bout with COVID-19, completing 70% of his passes for 300 yards per game and totaling 16 touchdowns versus zero interceptions. BetMGM has Rodgers at -190 to win the MVP award, ahead of Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady (+600) and Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (+600).
“They might have to give him the MVP,” McAfee said last week. “And they are going to be so pissed off about it.”
• Jacob Calvin Meyer can be reached at jmeyer@washingtontimes.com.
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