The spiciest beef in NFL circles these days is the ongoing spat between Ryan Clark and Aaron Rodgers. The two Super Bowl champions have been going back and forth for a week now. With Rodgers knee-deep in preparation for the New York Jets’ Week 16 contest the past few days, Clark has begun building a catalog of social media hits against the signal-caller.
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Clark’s latest words came Friday on the Stephen A. Smith Show. Smith asked Clark whether he felt Rodgers’ response on The Pat McAfee Show to Clark’s prior comments was warranted. Clark told Smith that Rodgers could “respond to me any way that he wants to.”
At the same time, he believes that right extends to him being able to reply to Rodgers. But Clark also thinks there’s a difference in their fighting methods.
“The things that I say about him will be viewed from a professional perspective. I am an NFL analyst. So in responding to Aaron Rodgers, I need to be able to respond with facts… I can’t just come out and insult his fashion. I can’t just say things that come out and make zero sense like, ‘state your vaccination status.’ I don’t get to do that. I have to be factual.”
Clark then moved into his comments on Rodgers being a “fraud.” The opinion stemmed from Rodgers bashing former players for providing analysis that, in Clark’s estimation, was accurate. Rodgers insists those people – seemingly including Clark – have only done so for attention and because of his COVID-19 vaccination status. Clark couldn’t disagree more.
“To call out former players while on a former player’s show? Yes, that makes you a fraud to me. Secondly… [saying] that [my] vaccination status tells what perspective or point of view I view Aaron Rodgers from; that’s bull cr*p… that’s not why I feel any way about him.”
In his next sentence, Clark pointed to another veteran quarterback who was recently benched as evidence for his case against Rodgers regarding COVID-19 vaccination status.
“Kirk Cousins, who was extremely honest about his vaccination status… he, in no way, receives any of the criticism he receives for his play based on that. Aaron Rodgers needs you to believe that because he needs us to believe he’s still the same [player] he [has] always been.”
Clark said people spoke about Rodgers “in an unbiased perspective” because he “included none of the stories” he knows about him from former teammates and coaches. Stephen A. did all he could do to unearth some of those tales, but Clark wouldn’t divulge anything.
Ryan Clark: “I don’t have a personal issue with Aaron Rodgers.”
Smith tried his best to get Clark to reveal some inside information from those who played with or coached Rodgers in the NFL. However, Clark wasn’t in a giving mood. He declined Smith’s offer because “those stories are those people’s stories.” He also admitted he didn’t want to “open up a different conversation” between him and Rodgers by doing so.
“Right now, [this] is him saying things that are very superficial; very surface level. And it’s me continuing to do my job in a professional way… I don’t have a personal issue with Aaron Rodgers.”
However, that didn’t keep him from further detailing why he called Rodgers a fraud in the first place and asked Smith if Rodgers’ vaccination status has ever come up in pre-show conversations.
“Part of the [reason] I called Aaron Rodgers a fraud is his continual deflection of things that matter in order to feed his fanbase…[and] tell me what meeting you’ve been in where we’ve said… ‘make sure we speak a certain way because of his [vaccination] status.'”
As expected, Smith answered that that has “never happened.”
It feels like this beef is far from being over anytime soon. As soon as Rodgers is free from football duties, he’s likely going to make another appearance on the Pat McAfee show and say his bit. If Rodgers’ obsession with his own vaccination status is any indication, this could go on forever.
