MVP voter says he won't pick Aaron Rodgers because QB is a 'jerk'

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is a heavy betting favorite to win his second consecutive MVP award and fourth overall.

But with only 50 votes up for grabs, we know of at least one that won't be going his way.

Hub Arkush, a Chicago-based NFL writer and one of the 50 voters this year for the award, said Tuesday in a radio interview that who Rodgers is off the field will keep him from voting for the quarterback.

"I don't think you can be the biggest jerk in the league and punish your team, and your organization and your fan base the way he did and be the Most Valuable Player," Arkush said on Chicago's 670 The Score.

Arkush said his judgment of Rodgers is layered, having to do with both the offseason of trade speculation and Rodgers' misleading information about his COVID vaccination status — the latter of which was revealed when he became infected and had to miss a game Green Bay ended up losing.

"They're gonna 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 they ended up getting beat?" Arkush said.

As I talked about on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast, I'm not sure being a bad guy is a disqualifier for winning a major sports award given several decades of evidence. That said, I'm not nearly as bent out of shape about Arkush's decision as plenty of others in the media.

Rodgers' numbers (3,977 passing yards, 35 TDs, four INTs) and the fact that Green Bay has the best record in the NFL and clinched the NFC's top seed are hard to ignore and probably will secure the award for him.

But don't count out Brady if there are more voters out there who think like Arkush or Palazzolo.