Perhaps no NFL player has caused the left (and his league) more consternation regarding COVID-19 over the last year than Aaron Rodgers. The Green Bay Packers quarterback was originally busted for breaking protocol at the beginning of the season and remains unvaccinated.

But instead of shutting up as I’m sure his bosses wanted him to, he’s continued to speak common sense into the conversation around the coronavirus. He did so again recently while speaking to Pat McAfee, a former Colts punter who is now one of the better sports podcasts out there.

When asked about his frustrations with the NFL’s COVID policies (which they recently changed when it became clear they’d have to cancel multiple games), here’s what Rodgers had to say.

"The one frustration I have is that throughout all of this there hasn't been any conversation about health. I don't understand why society & the NFL hasn't talked about legitimate Covid treatment options" ~@AaronRodgers12#PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/QtLaERUtn4

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 21, 2021

Rodgers: The one frustration that I have in all of this is that throughout this entire time, there hasn’t been real conversations around healh. You know, as far as giving people, you know, things to think about when it comes to health right. How to be healthier…as far as your diet, vitamins, and exercise and those type of things.

But the other thing that hasn’t been talked about is treatments, alright…I don’t understand why society and the NFL hasn’t talked about legitimate treatment options.

While I understand some people reading this have booted football over last year’s woke tilt in sports, I just enjoy the game too much to stop watching. That’s my choice, and as an NFL fan, I’m not a Rodgers fan at all. But he’s absolutely right here, and like with Tom Brady, his willingness to speak plainly about these hot topics certainly makes him more likable.

This is also something many of us at RedState have been saying since the beginning of the pandemic. We know that obesity is a top co-morbidity for COVID-19. That’s because prior variants targeted the lungs (data shows Omicron tends to stay in the throat, i.e. why it’s presenting itself as milder than Delta). The more in shape you are, the more resilient your body is, from your lungs to your immune system, to fight off the virus. And that’s not newly discovered information. We’ve known since the beginning of the pandemic that obesity greatly increases one’s chances of severe illness and death.

In the context of the NFL, that’s why not a single player has had a severe outcome (death, ventilator, extended hospital stay, etc.) regarding COVID-19 despite large outbreaks during the 2020 season without any vaccines available.

Still, mentions that people should stop being so singularly focused on vaccines and should also seek to get healthy have been met with scorn. From claims of being “fat-phobic” to people being called “anti-vax” for just suggesting people need to take care of themselves, the gnashing of teeth has been painfully loud. The American Medical Association even made the ridiculous move this year to cancel the term “morbidly obese.”

That same outrage has also followed those who suggest we need to make treatments more of a priority. We all remember the extreme reaction from the media to doctors using hydroxychloroquine. Later, studies found it was actually effective when used in certain situations, but again, anything conversation that isn’t “vaccines, vaccines, vaccines” sends the left into fits of rage.

In summary, what Rodgers is saying shouldn’t make people upset…because it’s true. In fact, the lack of depth in our conversations about COVID has almost certainly cost untold numbers of lives. Instead of locking people in their homes and padlocking parks, the government would have done better by giving everyone a free gym membership while encouraging them to get outside. Yet, that would require accepting the reality that the virus is here to stay and that we need to learn to live with it. That means therapeutics and conditioning our bodies to resist the effects of the virus.

But to even speak of such is blasphemy to the left. They are all-in on vaccines and crushing liberties for one simple reason: Power.