Green Bay Packers fined $300,000 for violating COVID-19 protocols and Aaron Rodgers must pay $14,650

The National Football League has fined Aaron Rodgers $14,650 for violating the league’s COVID-19 protocols, after the embattled quarterback attended the Green Bay Packer’s Halloween party.

The unvaccinated Rodgers – who is expected to make $21.5 million this year – was also disciplined for not wearing a mask at news conferences, ESPN reported on Tuesday night. 

He tested positive for COVID-19 on November 3. In August, asked about his vaccination status, he replied: ‘I am immunized’ – remarks that have led to accusations that he lied.

Rodgers’ team knew he was unvaccinated, ESPN reported, and he wore a face mask around his team mates. However, he did not wear one during press conferences – a breach of the rules.

The NFL fined the team $300,000 for failing to enforce the protocols, and Rodgers’ fellow unvaccinated player, receiver Allen Lazard, was also fined $14,650. 

Rodgers, the reigning MVP, has been quarantining at home but will return to the team one day before they face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday

Aaron Rodgers, (pictured) who missed the Packers’ game after it was revealed he tested positive for COVID and is unvaccinated

Lazard is not thought to have tested positive for COVID, but was told to quarantine after coming into contact with someone who did – potentially Rodgers, at the party. 

The Packers were hit with the fines following an investigation by the league which determined the team should have disciplined Rodgers, who violated the protocol that bars unvaccinated players from gathering in groups of more than three outside the team’s facilities. He and Lazard attended a Halloween party together.

Rodgers’ fine was determined by the COVID-19 protocol agreement reached between the players’ union and the league. 

The league’s investigation also discovered instances where Rodgers did not wear face coverings inside the Packers’ facility.

Rodgers is pictured in April 2019 with then-girlfriend Danica Patrick, a motor racing driver. He is now engaged to actress Shailene Woodley

There are several reasons Rodgers is unvaccinated, he said, including the likelihood that he and his fiancee, actress Shailene Woodley (left), would try to have children some day

The protocols for unvaccinated players remain largely the same as they were for everyone during the 2020 season. The difference now, since the release of several vaccines, is that players who have gotten the injections are free from certain testing, distancing, and mask protocols. Unvaccinated players, however, need to distance, wear masks, and get daily tests 

‘We respect the League’s findings and we recognize the importance of adherence to the Covid protocols to keep our team and organization safe and healthy,’ Packers president Mark Murphy told ESPN. 

‘We will continue to educate the team regarding the importance of the protocols and remain committed to operating within the protocols.’

The probe started last week after Rodgers tested positive for the coronavirus after lying to reporters about being vaccinated.

Rodgers, who is in the second year of a four-year contract extension worth $134 million, is eligible to return to the team one day before they face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

Rodgers sparked widespread anger with the revelation that he had lied to the media about being vaccinated, and with accusations that he had put other people at risk. 

Rodgers then poured fuel on the fire, saying that he was a ‘victim’ of a ‘woke mob’ who criticized him for choosing not to get vaccinated.

Rodgers has maintained that he is not ‘anti-vax’ in general but that it wasn’t the right decision for him, adding how he believes he is in the ‘crosshairs of the woke mob right now.’ 

On Tuesday, however, he moderated his tone and apologized for his ‘misleading’ comments. 

‘I know this is a difficult time for so many people dealing with COVID. It’s been a tough two years for a lot of people,’ Rodgers told The Pat McAfee Show. 

‘This has definitely been a time of a lot of reflection. I’ve had time to think about a lot of things in my silence here.’

He added: ‘I understand that people are suffering and that this has been a really difficult time for the last two years on so many people. 

‘I think we all know individuals who have lost their lives personally, people who have lost their business, their livelihoods. 

‘Their way of life has been altered completely, and I empathize with those things.

‘And I also know how sports can be such a connector and bring people together during times of adversity, and I do realize I am a role model to a lot of people, and so I just wanted to start out the show by acknowledging that I made some comments that people might have felt were misleading. 

‘To anybody that felt misled by those comments, I take full responsibility for those comments.’