Stephen A. Smith: Aaron Rodgers Comes Across as a Coward

Aaron Rodgers is unvaccinated, in case you didn't hear. The public outrage from yesterday that carried into today is not about the fact that he didn't get the jab, but rather that Rodgers intentionally misled the public about it; in August, Rodgers responded "Yeah, I'm immunized" when asked if he was vaccinated. Everyone took that as him being vaccinated.

Stephen A. Smith has long been a fan of Rodgers. But he was highly critical of Rodgers on First Take today, outright calling the quarterback a liar and saying he comes across as a coward for not telling people he was unvaccinated.

Smith bashed Rodgers for lying to his teammates, too, which may not be true; Aaron Jones incorrectly cited HIPPA when asked if he knew Rodgers was unvaccinated yesterday, but if the organization knew Rodgers' vaccination status, it is likely his teammates did too. But a lot of good points are made here, especially from Bart Scott about Rodgers' interactions with players outside the organization. Opposing quarterbacks might've been more careful about getting up close and personal with Rodgers after games if they knew he was unvaccinated.

That's what it really boils down to. We the public do not have a right to know if Rodgers is vaccinated or not. The fact that he lied is morally questionable, as all lying is, but this particular issue to lie about is complicated. There are ripple effects, differences in the way Rodgers is treated by people he interacts with daily if they believe he is vaccinated. Even if nothing bad happens to other people due to the fact that Rodgers was unvaccinated, it doesn't change the truth of what Smith said: Rodgers didn't want to face the music.

If he had said he was unvaccinated in August, it would have been disappointing but basically a non-issue by this point in the season. But getting exposed because he tested positive will drive the news cycle for weeks. You reap what you sow, I guess.