(670 The Score) Longtime NFL reporter Hub Arkush won’t be casting his MVP vote for Packers star quarterback Aaron Rodgers, whom he believes has created too many distractions off the field to receive the game’s highest individual honor.
“I don’t think you can be the biggest jerk in the league and punish you team and your organization and your fan base the way he did and be the Most Valuable Player,” Arkush said on the Parkins & Spiegel Show on Tuesday afternoon. “Has he been the most valuable on the field? Yeah, you can make that argument. But I don’t think he’s clearly that much more valuable than Jonathan Taylor or Cooper Kupp or maybe even Tom Brady. And so from where I sit, the rest of it is why he’s not going to be my choice. Do I think he’s going to win it? Probably. A lot of the voters don’t approach it the same way that I do. Others do that I’ve spoken to.”
Rodgers has thrown for 3,977 yards, 35 interceptions and just four interceptions in the 2021 season. His 111.1 quarterback rating is the best in the NFL among qualifying individuals, and his 67.8 QBR is also the best mark in the league.
Arkush is one of 50 voters for the MVP award. He was asked if off-the-field topics like a player’s vaccination status are supposed to factor in the MVP voting or if there are no guidelines. The unvaccinated Rodgers missed the Packers’ 13-7 loss to the Chiefs on Nov. 7 after testing positive for COVID-19.
“There’s no guidelines,” Arkush said. “We are told to pick the guy who we think is the most valuable to his team. I don’t think it says strictly anywhere ‘on the field.’ Although I do think he hurt his team on the team by the way he acted off the field. They’re going to get the No. 1 seed anyway, but what if the difference had come down to the Chiefs game where he lied about being vaccinated and ended up not playing and they got beat? I think all these things should be considerations. That’s the way I look at it.”
Even before the regular season began, Arkush indicated he was unlikely to vote for Rodgers to be MVP in 2021 no matter what happened on the field, as friction between Rodgers and the Packers organization had emerged publicly and created a long drama in the offseason.
“He ruined the entire offseason for that football team,” Arkush said. “They were left in jeopardy. They had no idea what they were doing. A lot of the off-the-field stuff was wasted because he wasn’t there. He tortured his fan base. And he’s already starting to do it again.
“The way he’s carried himself is inappropriate. The vaccine thing was just one more log on the fire, so to speak. I think he’s a bad guy, and I don’t think a bad guy can be the most valuable at the same time.”
Behind Rodgers’ brilliant play, the Packers are 13-3 and have clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC as their regular-season finale looms this weekend. Arkush also had praise for Rodgers.
“He’s incredibly valuable to the team,” Arkush said.
“Certainly, he’s right there, guys. That is not an argument I’m trying to make, that he is not one of the most valuable players in the league.”