Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers took his microphone on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday and unloaded on Dr. Anthony Fauci and ESPN, the network airing the program, in a diatribe heard round the NFL.
During his evisceration of ESPN, he called out Dianna Russini, a former reporter with the network before joining The Athletic as an insider.
Russini was embroiled in a major scandal this offseason, as she was alleged to have had an inappropriate relationship with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. Russini resigned from her role at The Athletic, and Vrabel left the Patriots during the NFL Draft to enter counseling as details began to unfold around his relationship with Russini.
During his diatribe, Rodgers wondered how an alleged affair like the one Russini had with Vrabel could affect the NFL, while simultaneously roasting ESPN for their lack of coverage compared to other media outlets surrounding the scandal.
“Look at what the networks doing. You have literally an individual that maybe used to work at ESPN, that covers our league at the highest level, and theres a major scandal,” Rodgers told McAfee and his crew. “And its just like nobody can f—ing talk about it? Like, what are we doing here?”
One of McAfees co-hosts told Rodgers that he of all people should understand how personal lives are meant to be personal, but Rodgers had a retort.
“I understand, but if its affecting certain things â if theres leaks going on, theres tampering going on,” he said. “If that person is also an MVP voter and Coach of the Year voter. Remember when I won MVP in 2021, and that bum in Chicago â yeah, thats real life. How are we allowing these people to have an impact?
Rodgers joked, “I told these boys I was bringing it today,” pointing to likely producers behind the cameras during the live taping at Steelers training camp.
But it was the truth. A simple question about Rodgers mindset heading into his final NFL season this year from McAfee led to him mocking Fauci.
“Ill plead the Fifth,” Rodgers said before going scorched Earth on Fauci, whom he was mocking after the former White House COVID advisor invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times during a Senate hearing last week.
Rodgers, though, also may have a gripe with Russini herself, especially during his time with the New York Jets. It was a failed tenure for the four-time MVP quarterback following years of success with the Green Bay Packers.
During his time in New York, Russini, working for The Athletic at the time, was very active in Jets reporting around the Rodgers turmoil and how the franchise was allegedly being affected by him.
In 2024, The Athletic reported Rodgers wanted to continue playing past that season, but not for the Jets. Rodgers said at the time on McAfees show it was “100% false,” while .
“There is not a lot of journalistic integrity anymore, I dont think,” Rodgers said, which prompted McAfee to respond by saying, “Standards.”
“The standards are what they are,” Rodgers replied, while not implicating Russini directly. “Listen, some of the stuff that Ive read I would say the majority is limited in its truth, and questionable in its content. Meaning, I dont understand why some of the articles written last year, because it seemed like they were really trying to ruin peoples lives.”
Rodgers also mentioned how tight-knit his inner circle is.
“I dont have anybody, I dont believe, that is in my inner circle that would spend any time talking to a reporter about other peoples s—, or trying to slam em, or trying to protect themselves,” he said. “But, unfortunately, this business has turned into a lot of cover your a–, you know. I guess thats part of what this is, people trying to cover their a–, so they gotta have a fall guy. It was [former Jets OC Nathaniel] Hacket
