In a three-hour interview with Joe Rogan, Aaron Rodgers sheds no light on his football future

On Wednesday, a new episode landed of the Joe Rogan Experience. His guest was free-agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Over the past two days, I've listened to all three hours. I took some notes. Ultimately, there was no indication given (and no question asked) regarding if or when he'll sign with the Steelers or any team.

The closest Rodgers came to addressing his football situation happened when he mentioned that a "number of people in my life" are battling cancer. That meshes with prior comment to Pat McAfee that Rodgers's inability to commit to a team flows from personal issues.

As to his future, Rodgers addressed only the question of whether he'll continue to live in California. "I think I'm gonna get out," he said.

The rest of the 184-minute conversation was a flee-flowing back-and-forth on a variety of non-football topics. I came away from the exchange with three inescapable conclusions, in addition to wanting those three hours of my life back.

First, Rodgers loves conspiracy theories. All of them. On every topic. In his view, everything that happens can be explained by some alternate truth the government is hiding from us.

Some of his theories are obviously rooted in faulty premises. They killed the guy who came up with a water-powered car! Even though there's, you know, no way to get chemical energy from water.

There's a loose nonchalance to some of it. For example, Rodgers wondered aloud why the Johnny Depp civil trial was televised but the Diddy criminal trial isn't. They basically shrugged at the unspoken assumption that it must be something nefarious and moved on, when the simple (and accurate) explanation is that state-court trials (like Depp's) can be televised and federal-court trials (like Diddy's) cannot be televised.

On the broader point, if you believe that every accepted truth is not really true but instead the product of a conspiracy theory to hide the truth, you'll eventually be right about some of them. You'll also be wrong about many of them. Conspiracies are hard to maintain. Too many people have to keep quiet, indefinitely. And then when anyone who possibly knew the truth dies of natural causes, they of course were killed by someone seeking to keep the secret.

Some of Rodgers's casually-mentioned ideas seem objectively nutty. At one point, Rodgers said Robert F. Kennedy's former running mate, Nicole Shanahan, thinks someone is now "controlling" Bobby.

There's plenty of other stuff. From nanobots in vaccines that come together in the body under certain frequencies (Rogan wasn't willing to accept that one) to the pyramids and other Egyptian landmarks having been built by aliens to aliens currently living in the ocean and otherwise walking among us to sudden infant death syndrome being caused by vaccines to Alex Jones being right about pretty much everything. (Last year, CNN reported that Rodgers had "shared deranged conspiracy theories" about the Sandy Hook shooting not being real. He later denied it, sort of.)

Two, Rodgers cannot quit talking about COVID. He presumes that everything about the government's response was a lie, that the vaccine never worked for anyone, that anyone who received a vaccine and then criticized him about anything is bought and paid for by the pharmaceutical companies, and that he is personally owed apologies and/or accountability from someone/anyone/everyone.

It's so much more than Rodgers believing that, for him, the vaccine wasn't necessary. He speaks derisively of anyone who received it, and he has plain disdain for those who choose to wear masks.

Why does he care if people decided to get the vaccine? Why does he care if people believe they should wear masks in order to protect their health (or to keep a contagious illness that they have from spreading)?

He repeated his chronic claim that anyone who ever says anything about him should first disclose their vax status. Here's my answer: I did what my doctor advised me to do, given my overall medical situation. (If/when Rodgers signs with the Steelers, he'll probably meet him. Perhaps when Rodgers shows up for his physical.)

Third, Rodgers has very strong conservative political beliefs. And that's his prerogative. He also believes, as more and more now realize, that Joe Biden suffered cognitive decline during his four-year term as president.

But there was an edge to Rodgers's comments that seemed at times to be disrespectful. There was almost a sense of glee, and downright meanness, when he mocked Biden for his age-related infirmities.

At one point, Rodgers referred to Biden as a "fucking neck sniffer."

We'll all get old, if we're lucky. Few will retain their full faculties until they climb into bed at 100 and don't wake up. And while it's now apparent that someone was working to hide Biden's condition until it could no longer be concealed, that doesn't translate to an open-ended license to make fun of an old man who is going through the things old men go through.

The fact that Rodgers has yet to succumb to the realities of aging when it comes to throwing a football will make him attractive to a team like the Steelers, regardless of whether he loves conspiracy theories, won't stop litigating COVID, and/or makes mean-spirited comments about an 82-year-old old man who is showing all the signs (and then some) of being 82 years old.

Still, there can be no doubt based on his latest appearance with Rogan about who they are getting. And it's for the Steelers to decide whether Rodgers's unique proclivities will be a fit in the locker room. Or whether they'll deal with the other stuff once he throws a pass and it whizzes by someone's helmet with a sound that the players have never heard before.

For the Steelers, the sound of a Rodgers piss missile will likely overcome the sound of any of the bullshit that comes out of his mouth.