The New York Jets Won’t Cure Aaron Rodgers’ Midlife Crisis
There’s long been something amiss with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Once a totem of “chill” in a position typically dominated by neurotics, recent years have found Rodgers increasingly restless, befuddling the public and those closest to him at every turn. He’s found himself in the running to host Jeopardy!, broken off his engagement to actress/free spirit Shailene Woodley, and gone to Peru and performed ayahuasca rituals in search of enlightenment.
At the beginning of the 2021-22 season, Rodgers misled reporters about his COVID-19 vaccination status, telling the media that he had been “immunized,” an oblique reference not to vaccination, but to a homeopathic treatment that involved constant light exposure to a somehow defanged (?) version of the virus. (Homeopathy is not real; please do not expect me to explain the specifics of how it does not work.) A few months later, he talked about it with Joe Rogan, which tells you all you need to know: Any man who appears on Rogan’s podcast cannot be said to be “comfortable,” “satisfied,” or “feeling 100 percent A-OK.”
Aaron Rodgers has been, to put a fine point on it, “going through it,” searching for answers to address the void in his soul.