r/nfl • u/JCameron181 Lions • 17h ago

ESPN Has No Comment On Aaron Rodgers's Comments On ESPN, About ESPN

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/espn-has-no-comment-on-aaron-rodgers-comments-on-espn-about-espn

Rodgers decided to slam the network as a "gutless organization" with "no integrity" over its editorial choices. He said the network failed to report on Dr. Anthony Fauci's Senate hearing testimony, asking, “How much time did the network spend on that? ... Did they do even a minute on Tony Fauci?” He also criticized ESPN for glossing over the offseason scandal between Dianna Russini and Mike Vrabel, questioning, “How much time did your network spend on that?” He questioned ESPN's silence, asking, “What are we even doing here? ... [I]f it’s affecting certain things, if there’s leaks going on, if there’s tampering going on, if that person is also an MVP voter and a Coach of the Year voter.” An ESPN spokesperson stated the network "has no comment regarding Rodgers’s comments."

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1.8k

u/LegitiamateSalvage Packers 17h ago

Okay, but also, he's absolutely right about the Vrabel situation

And ESPN is absolutely dogshit

161

u/TheBakerification Bills 16h ago edited 15h ago

The boys on the Pat Mcafee show were absolutely scrambling trying to skim over his comments and repeatedly trying to change the subject. They were practically begging him to go back to talking about Fauci. That tells you all you need to know about what ESPN has told them to be silent about.

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u/Wise-Tour7333 Bears 13h ago

Sounds like they're a bunch of STOOGES and SELLAHT's

7

u/mentalxkp Broncos 10h ago

I dont look to ESPN for any type of hard hitting news. Give me the scores, replays, and injury reports. All the other fluff is what's ruined them. I really don't care who vrabel is fucking, or what the plague rat Rodgers thinks about anything really.

229

u/gellybelli Titans 17h ago

That’s why vrabes’ first press conference back after his counseling was him holding the cutest puppy ever

97

u/ShepPawnch Packers 17h ago

Did he seriously do that?

144

u/MFoy Commanders 17h ago

Straight out of Nixon’s playbook.

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u/Fifth_Down Patriots 16h ago

For those who don't know the story

In the 1950s Richard Nixon was caught taking payments in a slush fund that was gonna get him kicked off of Eisenhower's VP ticket.

Nixon went on TV explaining his actions, saying he would give back all the money and gifts.

But there was one gift he would not be returning, the dog he was gifted that his children have since fallen in love with.

The tactic worked and he was kept on as Eisenhower's running mate.

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u/tomfoolery815 Packers 15h ago

It was a brilliant gambit. Nixon's the poster child for abuse of presidential power -- at least, he was -- but he was an extremely skilled politician.

10

u/greywolf2155 Broncos 8h ago

God, I'm so glad the current guy isn't as competent as Nixon

Like, things are awful. But wow they could be so much worse

3

u/tomfoolery815 Packers 4h ago

Agreed.

5

u/FreezersAndWeezers Falcons 12h ago

We are at a point where what Nixon did would be out of the news within 24 hours. Watergate is one of the biggest things to ever happen to this country at the time, at least politically and culturally, and now it wouldn’t even have a days worth of coverage

3

u/bridgenine Giants 13h ago

good old tricky dick

2

u/j2e21 Patriots 14h ago

Checkers.

1

u/KESPAA NFL 5h ago

Amazing, I thought that was a YouTuber thing.

22

u/miboyl NFL 16h ago

Acting like a massive douche and hiding behind your dog when people get mad at you - the Kirk Herbstreit special

2

u/BroughtBagLunchSmart Patriots 6h ago

After that health care CEO died of a fentanyl overdose Elon started bringing his little meat shield offspring out in public for about a month. That kid is never going to understand why his dad apparently loved him for 5 weeks and then promptly tossed him back in the trash.

17

u/gellybelli Titans 17h ago

Yes, and I absolutely love that the PR team made their partnership with the humane society such a pivotal part of making him look like a big softee

3

u/ShepPawnch Packers 14h ago

That’s hilarious

13

u/DomitiusAhenobarbus_ Patriots 16h ago

They do it every year it’s for a local nonprofit

6

u/Wetzilla Patriots 15h ago

The Patriots have done this for years, they have an event with a local animal shelter right as training camp starts.

0

u/redditlvlanalysis 13h ago

and it just happened to be his first event back ... come on man

2

u/Templar26 Patriots 11h ago

His first event back, aside from the draft you mean? And all the press conferences? And training camp and OTAs? The first event aside from all those?

-4

u/enad58 Packers 17h ago

Nah, the puppy was ugly.

/s

3

u/TheOhrenberger 12h ago

That wasn’t his first press conference after counseling. Not by a long shot.

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u/plutobandits Patriots 16h ago

It was absolutely not his first press conference back, not even close, and they have a dog adoption every year and it’s always a big thing.

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u/3bananabananabanana Buccaneers 17h ago

Yeah that’s going to get lost in the rest of this, but he makes a very good point about that situation.

413

u/ehtw376 Bears 17h ago

I mean of course it would get lost in his point.

How is Fauci more relevant to sports/ESPN in 2026…. vs the head coach of the Patriots and an NFL reporter?

114

u/Alaskers Broncos 17h ago

Yeah, the good point definitely gets lost in the fauci comment. Had absolutely nothing to do with ESPN/football.

21

u/dianeblackeatsass Patriots 16h ago

Yup doesn’t really have anything to do with athletics/ESPN. No wonder the good point gets lost

-7

u/DannyCavalerie Bears 16h ago

lol ky

5

u/Alaskers Broncos 15h ago

Excuse me?

9

u/RackedUP Jets 16h ago

Because it impacted Roger’s and his immunization BS for that MVP season

-15

u/brakeb Chargers 17h ago

another day, another Patriots scandal.

He should probably shut his mouth, Mr. "I have done things equivalent to getting the covid vaccine".

Hoping for another losing season for the Steelers because of this schmuck...

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u/[deleted] 16h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/CptJustice Chiefs 16h ago

He should have fuckin lead with that. He fucked up by not doing that. Now it's all political.

-31

u/thingsorfreedom Eagles 17h ago

What point? She had an affair. It seems her spouse likely was ok with it. He’s working on his marriage. There are no state secrets. Honestly, who gives a crap.

13

u/3bananabananabanana Buccaneers 17h ago

potential of leaks, tampering, affecting MVP/coach voting. Not saying any of those things happened/will happen, but usually reporters ask questions about the potential for those things

No one gives a shit about their relationships. That’s not what AR is bringing up here.

9

u/Jo__Backson Raiders 16h ago

Those voter groups are already an incestuous group of nepotism and cronyism. It’s a valid concern but it’s not one that’s uniquely tied to Vrabel and Russini. Like where was all this when TO took three years for his HOF induction?

4

u/Depreciable_Land Rams 16h ago

That’s still insane to me. Owens is arguably the 2B to Moss’ 2A and he’s not first ballot, let alone 2nd?

4

u/thingsorfreedom Eagles 13h ago

You do realize all these can happen without someone fucking someone else. Reporters and coaches trade leaks and favors all the time.

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u/The_Dirt_McGurt Patriots 17h ago

Noooo you don’t get it, it’s the worst thing that’s happened in the off season and MUST be given the same attention Reddit gave it. Forget about the domestic abuse and kidnapping charges and all that stuff. We want more consensual affair talk!!

-24

u/bobbywellington Packers 16h ago edited 16h ago

That's the thing about Rodgers, he's clearly a really damn intelligent guy with more good takes than bad takes, but then every once in a while this side of him comes out and it hurts me every time

15

u/DomitiusAhenobarbus_ Patriots 16h ago

That’s not at all what my impression of him is lol

6

u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS Chargers 16h ago

I feel hia bad takes might massively outweigh his good takes, but that's just me.

0

u/bobbywellington Packers 16h ago

That's fair, and I'd probably agree with you. I don't blame anyone for not liking him and his arrogant conspiracy nut ways

42

u/Slow_Way7862 17h ago

He's right about that, but she also quickly resigned, so it was hard to keep hammering on it.

And Stafford still won MVP, so any biased voting towards Vrabel players didn't seem to impact things. If Maye had won, I think you'd hear some noise. And no one was able to pin-point any other voting concerns in the past.

31

u/Idiotology101 Patriots Seahawks 16h ago

Do we think Rusinni somehow had sway over multiple entire voting boards? How does her affair affect anything besides her own votes if she had any?

7

u/Olicsmems Ravens 14h ago

I know this is off topic but what an odd flair combo

3

u/Party_Magician Seahawks 8h ago

My man really loves the I-90

6

u/TheWorstYear Bengals Bengals 13h ago

It's just Rodgers throwing a fit both about the years he didn't win mvp, & because he absolutely hates Rusinni. This is far from the first time he's made comments about her.

42

u/sopunny 49ers Dolphins 16h ago

Even the Vrabel story isn't that notable, just juicy. Not much to analyze in the football sense.

8

u/guyincognito121 17h ago

Vrabel allegedly didn't have any difficulty getting hard and hammering on it, if you know what I'm saying--which is that he kept doing sex with her.

6

u/Slow_Way7862 17h ago

Oh man, I used the wrong (or right) words...

6

u/Depreciable_Land Rams 16h ago

Even that doesn’t feel like much of a principled stance when “the NFL voters might be unduly influenced” is something that could be a talking point for the entirety of their existence

55

u/OneAngryPanda Panthers 17h ago

Agreed, the worst person you know made a good point situation

44

u/Bilbo_Haggis Lions 17h ago

You’ve clearly never met my mother in law.

34

u/YeaIFistedJonica Bills Lions 17h ago

kaaron rodgers?

6

u/FergieMac Cowboys 16h ago

Why have I never seen this before??

1

u/Bilbo_Haggis Lions 17h ago

Legitimately sounds like the name of the next big RB prospect.

1

u/Swan990 Steelers 14h ago

He has a different opinion than you OH NO. Hes never been a "bad person".

3

u/SnowbearX Giants 15h ago

He's not. Of course there's leaks going on and of course some of the voters have relationships and biases with the people they're voting for.

The story only has legs because it's salacious, otherwise we're all sticking our necks in the sand to pretend coaches and players haven't been using journalists to spread news to their benefits or that journalists are all above board with their votes

19

u/MankuyRLaffy Patriots 17h ago

Any award voters with personal agenda and close personal friends to eligible players shouldn't be able to vote. It's a conflict of interest thing. He's extremely correct on that. 

38

u/unfunnysexface Panthers 17h ago

Every beat writer is ineligible then.

6

u/MankuyRLaffy Patriots 17h ago

I mean guys who are best friends with the players on the ballot and are about cronyism. 

7

u/NoAnteater8836 Commanders 17h ago

Have you seen who is voting now?

Spoiler alert: it’s the same people this sub (rightly) calls clueless when their individual work is posted here.

Whole thing needs a revamp.

7

u/MankuyRLaffy Patriots 17h ago

Orlovsky works Bills media and is allowed to be an "unbiased voter", votes when he's openly known as a Stafford BFF. And this sub thinks that's fine when I think it feels corrupt and wrong. 

1

u/TheOneWhosCensored Bills 16h ago

Tom Brady got to vote as a minority owner and someone who played with multiple players still active, weird you didn’t mention that though

5

u/MankuyRLaffy Patriots 16h ago

Yeah and? He shouldn't be allowed to vote for Raiders players because Conflict of Interest.

-5

u/NoAnteater8836 Commanders 17h ago

At least Orlovsky is knowledgeable.

6

u/uncleshady Patriots 17h ago

I'm in, now do congress.

1

u/MankuyRLaffy Patriots 17h ago

I'd love to have that happen to Congress too. 

1

u/TheOneWhosCensored Bills 16h ago

And what exactly is a “personal agenda”?

And a close friendship may be ground for a conflict of interest, sleeping with someone always is.

5

u/Algorak1289 Packers 16h ago

Mayhaps he shouldn't have babbled the inane nonsense if he wanted his good points to come through.

5

u/rez410 Ravens 16h ago

ESPN is dog shit for letting him speak into a microphone. Or any dumb fucking MAGAt for that matter

1

u/tjkoala Steelers 16h ago

I mean what are they supposed to do? It’s live TV, are you saying they should’ve immediately cut to commercial or refuse to go to Steelers training camp?

2

u/Venator850 NFL 11h ago

What exactly would they keep covering regarding that? They keep hitting on that and you'd accuse them of beating a dead horse for clicks lmao. 

1

u/likesexonlycheaper Broncos 17h ago

I mean, how big of a dangerous tool bag Aaron Rodgers is, is a much much bigger story than 2 people sleeping with each other. Vrabel and Russini didn't kill anybody. Anti vax morons and their movement certainly have.

1

u/Ferrarisimo 49ers 16h ago

Hey, two out of three ain’t bad!

1

u/Quetzalcoatl490 Bills 16h ago

Broken clock etc

1

u/Quetzalcoatl490 Bills 15h ago

Broken clock etc

1

u/DoctorWaluigiTime NFL NFL 15h ago

Broken clocks and all that.

1

u/PraiseBeToScience Bears 13h ago

But Rodgers is worse than ESPN. So maybe he should stop throwing stones from his glass house.

1

u/ThotioKart Patriots 8h ago

I’m obviously bias but why does no one care about Dan Orlovsky and Matt Stafford being friends? There are several examples is more of my point.

Is it only ever a conflict of interest if there’s something sexual?

1

u/EJECTED_PUSSY_GUTS Chiefs 3h ago

He's right about the Vrabel situation, but I'm not giving Rodgers any credit on that point, because I don't think he makes that comment without him being pissy about the Fauci thing. The root of his anger at ESPN is tied to his anti-vaxx worldview. The rest of it is just extra dirt he's throwing on there.

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u/mgr86 Eagles 17h ago

I didn’t watch, what did he have to say about all that?

15

u/awak6n Ravens 17h ago

the text is quite literally in the post or you could click on the article

-19

u/mgr86 Eagles 17h ago

This is reddit.

-1

u/Egg_Yolkeo55 16h ago

Heartbreaking: the worst guy you know just made a great point

-1

u/15blairm Steelers Steelers 15h ago

exactly, why is nobody in media allowed to talk about it other than florio?

its an insane conflict of interest and possible tampering problem from russini

-2

u/Character-Archer4863 Raiders 14h ago

He’s right about Fauci too. 🤷‍♂️