Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Aaron Rodgers mocks 'prank' claim he'd boycott Super Bowl over COVID-19 protocols

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Jan 7, 2022 7:03 PM ET

Green Bay Packers quarterback and reigning Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers has had a big midweek considering he hasn't played since last Sunday and his team already owns the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. He spent time lashing out at an MVP voter who called him "the biggest jerk in the league," and he teased he could remain with the Packers for at least another season after his relationship with the club seemed damaged beyond repair over the summer.

Rodgers was the key figure of one more story before the weekend.

As Mike Florio noted for Pro Football Talk, former NFL quarterback and current WFAN personality Boomer Esiason shared on his radio program that an alleged source informed him that Rodgers could potentially boycott playing in the Super Bowl, assuming the Packers qualify for the big game, over the league's COVID-19 protocols.

Rodgers missed a contest in November after he tested positive for the coronavirus as an unvaccinated player:

Boomer Esiason received a text from a trusted source which indicates that Aaron Rodgers will threaten to boycott the Super Bowl, should the Packers make it that far.#GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/8ycIyJzqKN
— Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) January 7, 2022

It appears, however, that Esiason and company were victims of a hoax:

Before this gets even more out of control, here is more context to the text Boomer got about Aaron Rodgers. By the end of our discussion we all came to the conclusion that we believed it was a prank. pic.twitter.com/fNtDgQsWJP
— Gregg Giannotti (@GioWFAN) January 7, 2022

Rodgers took to Twitter Friday to mock the original report via not-safe-for-work hashtags and other posts:

Were you the #source @KurtBenkert ? #someonesaidtheywereinmydirectcircle ?? https://t.co/82ajh6rV6t
— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) January 7, 2022

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said earlier on Friday Rodgers wishes to play in Sunday's game at the Detroit Lions, which means nothing to Green Bay as it pertains to the postseason bracket, because the signal-caller "wants to keep the momentum going." Needless to say, one could bet the future Hall of Famer cares more about claiming a second Super Bowl ring than about how the NFL tests players for COVID-19 this winter or later this year.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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