The Green Bay Packers will be praying the return of their champion quarterback will shift the focus away from his recent off-field scandals.
Aaron Rodgers will be back on the field Sunday.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Rodgers has returned to the Packers’ facilities and will start against the Seahawks. Rodgers is asymptomatic, has met the NFL’s return to play protocols and will be activated by 4pm on Saturday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.
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Rodgers missed last week’s loss to Kansas City Chiefs after testing positive for Covid-19 and hasn’t practised with the team since then.
What he has done is been the centre of controversy since coming down with the virus. The quarterback said in August that he had been “immunised” against Covid-19, but that turned out to be a play on words.
Rodgers, who is unvaccinated, said in a widely panned appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” last week that he was allergic to some ingredients in the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna and opted not to get the Johnson & Johnson shot after hearing of people getting adverse reaction to it.
The three-time NFL MVP also had questions about whether the vaccinates would impact his fertility. He lost a sponsorship with Prevea Health, though State Farm kept him on.
Earlier this week, the NFL slapped Rodgers with a modest US$14,650 (AUD$20,000) fine for violating the league’s Covid-19 protocols.
The league also levied an AUD$409,000 fine against the Packers organisation and a $20,000 fine on receiver Allen Lazard, who like Rodgers was unvaccinated.
However, some NFL teams reportedly aren’t satisfied with the league’s handling of its investigation into the Packers and Rodgers over the Covid-19 protocol violations.
Other NFL teams are said to be “p***ed” about what they feel is an unfair punishment, according to ProFootballTalk, compared to other disciplines the league has handed down to teams and players that have violated Covid-19 protocols.
“That’s bull***t,” one source told the website
With Rodgers back, everyone in Green Bay will doubtlessly be happy to get the focus off what he’s been saying about Covid. For a while, it looked like neither he nor Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (hand surgery) would be taking part in this matchup, but they’ll both be on the field Sunday.
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
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