The National Football League has spoken.
The Green Bay Packers were fined $300,000.00 for not handling their COVID-19 protocols. Aaron Rodgers and Allen Lazard got hit up for a one-time violation cost of $14,650.00.
The checks will clear, one player has already been back and another is one the way. There’s a game coming Sunday.
However, the entire organization has been dumped into the absolute one side or the other world we live in. It was Rodgers’ doing by having his misleading vaccination status exposed by a cotton swap, which impacted the football side and by Friday afternoon, the social, medical and political shots from both directions began firing. He was the number 2 story on ABC World News tonight on Tuesday. The team knew of the quarterback’s disdain for some, not all of the covid protocols he chose to abide by yet they turned away when it came to camera face time, the one he thought most useless. That cost the franchise a pretty penny and way too much unwanted off the field attention.
The Halloween party didn’t help and that was also part of the player’s punishment.
Team President and CEO Mark Murphy finally issued a statement after the fines were announced basically saying we’ll live by the discipline and try to do better.
And they will but darn it, there’s a season to play.
The spotlight glare will stay hot through the weekend as Rodgers is expected to come off the Reserve/COVID-19 list and get back to being an athlete, not an activist.
You obviously can’t predict when you’re gonna get sick, certainly hope for Aaron’s full recovery, but it’s interesting how Rodgers at the 2021 season midpoint, is far and away the most talked about NFL player and personality, just like he was on the league’s biggest off-season night, round one of the draft.
This two will pass, let’s see if Rodgers throws a few against the Seahawks.
Then there’s Odell Beckham Jr. Taking lots of phone calls now that he’s an unrestricted free agent after a financially complicated extraction from the Cleveland Browns. Unclaimed on waivers, he’s free to take on all offers.
According to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Packers are one of those teams, offering a veteran minimum salary for the rest of the year at $537,000.00. Reports say most, not all of the other interested parties are offering likewise. It’s up to OBJ.
General Manager Brian Gutekunst has no qualms about bringing in veteran NFL players, Rasul Douglas, Jaylon Smith, Whitney Mercilus already this year. But it seems to be against his nature to bring in a flashpoint veteran like Beckham Jr. How much more drama can he take?
Financially, it’s about all they can do. They want Davante Adams for a few more years instead of OBJ for a few weeks.
From a football standpoint, will he ultimately run number two behind Adams, pushing Lazard, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Randall Cobb further down the route tree? I’m thinking Gutekunst and the offensive coaches like the group the way it is.
The locker room leadership is extremely strong with Rodgers, Marcedes Lewis, Adrian Amos. Chemistry appears solid. Would the arrival of his talent and personality create a chemical reaction the Packers might regret? Or could those leaders bring him in line with the 1 of 11, 1 of 53 preached by LaFleur almost daily.
Fantasy footballers love the idea but I’m not sure many hearts will be broken inside 1265 if Odell plies his wares elsewhere.
