Getty Aaron Rodgers celebrates after a win over the Arizona Cardinals.
A former Buffalo Bills linebacker is calling out Aaron Rodgers, accusing the Green Bay Packers quarterback of lying and getting preferential treatment from the NFL.
Takeo Spikes appeared on CBS Sports Radio’s The DA Show on Thursday and took on Rodgers for what he saw as misleading statements about his vaccination status and irresponsible behavior with the team. The Packers quarterback suffered a COVID-19 infection, and afterward it was revealed that he had not been vaccinated, though many were led to believe Rodgers was after he claimed to have been “immunized.”
The situation isn’t sitting well with Spikes.
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Spikes Blasts Rodgers
Spikes, an anchor of the Bills defense during his tenure with the team between 2003 and 2006, sounded off on Rodgers for misleading people about his vaccination status.
“When the news came out and you found out he lied, I’m like, ‘Well, that’s a level of arrogance along with privilege as well,’ ” he said.
Spikes went on to say that Rodgers should have been honest from the beginning, saying it was irresponsible of him to lie about something so serious.
“Just to come out and sit up there and lie in the beginning so you can take the heat off of yourself and take the heat and attention away from a very serious matter,” Spikes said. “I don’t know exactly what happened day in, day out while you’re inside that locker room. But I thought that was real foul of Rodgers. And I’m a big fan of his game. But that really got me looking at him sideways.”
CeeDee Lamb expressed his frustration for multiple fines this season after being asked about his fine total compared to Aaron Rodgers.
But Spikes added that the situation could blow over, saying that if Rodgers hasn’t fractured the Packers locker room then the team can likely move past the situation. For his part, Rodgers has apologized to those who felt misled by his comments.
“I made some comments that people might have felt were misleading. And to anybody who felt misled by those comments, I take full responsibility for those comments,” Rodgers said, via Pro Football Talk.
Rodgers Faces Punishment
Both Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers have faced punishment for the breaches in protocol. As NFL.com’s Grant Gordon reported, the league conducted a review of the situation and docked Rodgers $14,650 while handing the team a $300,000 fine. Rodgers and teammate Allen Lazard were punished for attending a team-sanctioned Halloween party, as unvaccinated players are prohibited from attending gatherings outside team activities.
“The review also found that there were a few instances in which Rodgers and Lazard were not wearing face coverings inside the team facility, which is a violation of protocol,” Gordon reported, adding that the league found no “widespread or systematic mask-wearing violations” for the Packers.
NFL fines the Packers $300K for violations of COVID-19 protocols, per @RobDemovsky
Aaron Rodgers and Allen Lazard fined $14,650 each
A pair of Buffalo Bills players did not appear to be so lucky. As ESPN reported, Cole Beasley and Isaiah McKenzie were each hit with a $14,650 fine for breaching protocol inside the team’s facility. Beasley later called out the league on Twitter, claiming that he had been wearing a mask all day but briefly let his mask drop while “literally 5 steps” from the locker room door.
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