(WFRV) – One day after famed sports analyst Pat McAfee announced that Aaron Rodgers wouldn’t return to his show for the remainder of the NFL season, the New York Jets quarterback was back in the spotlight.
Rodgers joined “The Pat McAfee Show” on Thursday to talk about Bill Belichick and his departure from the New England Patriots after a Hall of Fame coaching career. Rodgers also spoke briefly about fellow legendary coach Nick Saban’s official retirement from Alabama.
Additionally, Rodgers spoke about how he’s enjoying off-season activities in the woods as the NFL regular season has ended with the Jets missing the playoffs. He even joked about there being light, contrary to last year’s darkness retreat.
This came just a day after McAfee said, “‘Aaron Rodgers Tuesday’ Season 4 is done. There is going to be a lot of people happy with that, myself included.” He said that the whole ordeal is not going to be in his mentions moving forward.
“We are very lucky to get a chance to chat with him and learn from him,” McAfee continued. “Some of his thoughts and opinions though do (tick) off a lot of people, and I’m pumped that that is no longer going to be every single Wednesday of my life, which it has been for the last few weeks.”
The 40-year-old quarterback, who spent much of his days with the Green Bay Packers, has caused a stir amid an apparent feud between him and Jimmy Kimmel.
Rodgers alleged that Kimmel was “one of the people really hoping that list doesn’t come out” in reference to a list of associates of Jeffrey Epstein.
Kimmel had blasted Rodgers on his television show and his social media pages, saying the false accusations of Rodgers had put his family in danger. Although many believed Kimmel was owed an apology, Rodgers stood his ground.
“I totally understand how serious an allegation of pedophilia would be, so for him to be upset about that, I get it,” Rodgers said Tuesday during his weekly appearance on pundit Pat McAfee’s ESPN talk show. “I’m not stupid enough, even though you think I’m an idiot and you made a lot of comments about my intelligence; I’m not stupid enough to accuse of that with absolutely zero evidence, concrete evidence; that’s ridiculous.”
Thursday’s show did not mention controversial topics such as COVID-19 vaccines, Kimmel, or Epstein.
Although Rodgers was expected to be off “The Pat McAfee Show” for the next few months, he may be back for more screen time.
McAfee is in the first year of a five-year, $85 million agreement where ESPN licenses his self-produced show. That deal was announced last May and McAfee’s show debuted on ESPN last September.
ESPN announced last week that the show averaged 886,000 viewers across all platforms (ESPN, YouTube, TikTok). It averages 332,000 alone on ESPN, a 20% increase since its Sept. 7 debut.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
