Aaron Rodgers says there’s a “slight chance” he doesn’t play Sunday, wants to move on from vaccination talk

If you wanted headlines from Aaron Rodgers’ Tuesday show with Pat McAfee and his former teammate A.J. Hawk, you’re severely disappointed. The Packers quarterback came in with a very different tone than when he hopped on the show on Friday and suggested that the vaccines for the coronavirus may cause infertility, among other things that led to his endorsement with Prevea Health to fold.

Rodgers opened up his weekly spot by stating, “I just wanted to start off this show by acknowledging that I made some comments that people might have felt were misleading. To anybody who felt misled by those comments, I take full responsibility for those comments.” He stood by his previous comments about his vaccination decision, so we can only presume that the context of “misled” is him coming to terms with how “Yeah, I’m immunized.” sounded to the masses when he was asked this summer if he was vaccinated or not.

Rodgers later said, “It’s a time to move forward for me and talk about football,” and, “I’m an athlete; I’m not an activist. So I’m going to get back to doing what I do best.” At this point, that must be music to Packers fans’ ears, as most just hope the team gets back on track to the pace they were on before Rodgers missed Week 9’s matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The reigning NFL MVP seemed fairly confident that he would play against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, but wouldn’t speak in absolutes. On if he wouldn’t play, he stated, “There might be a possibility, but a small possibility.” When asked specifically why he may not play, he claimed, “There’s a health hurdle, as far as like movement and sweating and getting into it, making sure my body, especially my heart, is fine with physical excursion.”

Afterwards, Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel clarified that a cardiac screen is one of the obstacles that Rodgers will have to pass before he is eligible to suit up for the team. Again, these things have yet to play out, but Rodgers seems optimistic that he will be ready to start against the Seahawks this weekend.