Aaron Rodgers

The NFL is reportedly unlikely to reprimand Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers despite his admitted use of ayahuasca, a psychoactive tea that includes DMT, a hallucinogenic drug that is illegal in the United States and banned by the NFL.

Peter King of NBC Sports reached out to the league office, which refused to provide a comment. King then reached out to sources who said the NFL "very likely" will not punish Rodgers because he never tested positive for a banned substance.

The NFL does conduct random drug tests during the offseason, but DMT is nearly impossible to detect in blood and urine tests.

Rodgers recently revealed he drank ayahuasca during the 2020 offseason and then again this offseason. He credited his first journey with helping give him the mindset that led to his back-to-back MVP wins the past two seasons.

Speaking to King about his experience, Rodgers said the ayahuasca helped him find "self-love" and made him a better person and teammate.

“Man, it’s hard to answer that question with a short answer. But a lot of different ways. The most important way was really that self-love part," Rodgers said. "I think it’s unlocked a lot of my heart. Being able to fully give my heart to my teammates, my loved ones, relationships because I can fully embrace unconditionally myself.

"Just didn’t do that for a long time. I was very self-critical. When you have so much judgment on yourself it’s easy to transfer that judgment to other people. When you figure out a better way to love yourself, I think you can love people better because you’re not casting the same judgment you cast on yourself on other people. I’m really thankful for that.”

Rodgers also said the psychoactive helped him find a "deeper" love of football and "allowed me to look at each day with a little more joy.”

The NFL's decision to not punish Rodgers is interesting given his public admission to using a banned substance. It's fair to wonder if the league would have had the same reaction if a player admitted to using a performance-enhancing substance or a different drug without a positive test.

As it stands, the league is seemingly setting a precedent that players cannot be punished for taking drugs without a positive test.

In an interview with Peter King of NBC Sports, Aaron Rodgers said the use of the psychedelic drug ayahuasca helped "[unlock] a lot of my heart."

The Green Bay Packers QB first discussed using the drug on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast, saying it helped him win his back-to-back MVP awards over the past two years. He explained to King how the situation unfolded:

I have a dear friend that I've known for 25 years that went on an ayahuasca journey in 2019. He came back, and we played golf one day and he told me all about it. I said, OK, I think it's time that I do it. So we put together a trip to Peru [in 2020] and had a great experience. Then I went again this offseason and had another beautiful experience. Different, very different. Different size group, different amount of days.

The use of ayahuasca is illegal in the United States, but Rodgers saw significant value during his three-day trip in South America:

I came in with an intention of doing a lot of healing of other relationships and bringing in certain people to have conversations with. Most of the work was around myself and figuring out what unconditional love of myself looks like of myself. In doing that, allowing me to understand how to unconditionally love other people but first realizing it's gotta start with myself. I've got to be a little more gentle with myself and compassionate and forgiving because I've had some negative voices, negative self-talk, for a long time. A lot of healing went on. There's things—images from the nights, the journeys—that will come up in dreams or during the day I'll think about something that happened or something that I thought about. It's constantly trying to integrate those lessons into everyday life.

In 2020, Rodgers set a career high with 48 passing touchdowns to go with just five interceptions, leading the NFL with a 121.5 quarterback rating. A year later, he led the league in passer rating again at 111.9 to go along with 37 touchdowns and four picks.

It helped him win the third and fourth MVP awards of his career.

The next challenge for Rodgers will be winning his second Super Bowl title after several disappointing playoff exits in recent seasons.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is impressed with the performance from rookie wide receiver Romeo Doubs during the early stages of training camp.

"Every single day ... there's been at least one kind of 'wow' play for him," Rodgers told reporters Wednesday. "And that's kind of rare for a young guy like that."

The Packers are looking for receivers to step up following the offseason departure of Davante Adams, who was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders in March, and the absence of second-round pick Christian Watson, who's sidelined with a knee injury.

Doubs, a fourth-round pick, has been a clear standout from the early practices, which also garnered praise from head coach Matt LaFleur.

"He's consistent, man," LaFleur said. "He's got a great routine and he just goes out there with the right mentality and he's done a really good job up to this point. But it's still early on. I mean, shoot, we haven't even played a preseason game yet. But I like what we see in practice."

Romeo Doubs has been the star of Packers training camp so far.

Here is him 1-on-1 against 2nd year CB Eric Stokes 👀 pic.twitter.com/v52QsYMZqz

— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) August 3, 2022

Doubs put together four productive seasons at the University of Nevada. He compiled 225 catches for 3,322 yards and 26 touchdowns in 43 games for the Wolf Pack, earning first-team All-Mountain West honors the past two years.

Yet, he didn't generate a ton of attention leading up to the draft, and even his arrival to the organization was overshadowed by Watson, who underwent surgery after OTAs and remains without a firm timetable for his return.

Now, the 22-year-old Los Angeles native is pushing for a starting spot opposite Allen Lazard.

"I have to set myself at a standard to make sure Aaron has enough trust in me regardless of me being a rookie," Doubs said.

So far, he's well on his way to reaching that goal and ensuring he makes an immediate impact for the Packers in 2022.

Green Bay opens the preseason Aug. 12 when it visits Levi's Stadium to take on the San Francisco 49ers.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suggested Wednesday that the use of a psychedelic drug helped him win back-to-back NFL MVP awards in 2020 and 2021.

Appearing on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast (h/t Jace Evans of USA Today), Rodgers described using ayahuasca for the first time in South America and explained how he believes the psychedelic helped him:

"I don't think it's a coincidence. I really don't. I don't really believe in coincidences at this point. It's the universe bringing things to happen when they're supposed to happen.

"There's signs and synchronicities all around us at all times if we're awake enough to see them and to take them in and to listen to our intuition when it's speaking to us or pounding us in the head saying, 'Hey dummy, this is what you're supposed to be doing.'"

Rodgers explained that he tried ayahuasca after experiencing "one of the best days of [his] life," which entailed taking psychedelic mushrooms on a beach. Rodgers added that ayahuasca has helped his mental health and given him "unconditional self-love," which has helped his relationship with teammates and others in his life.

From an on-field perspective, Rodgers has played some of the best football of his career over the past two seasons.

The 38-year-old completed 70.7 percent of his passes for 4,299 yards, 48 touchdowns and just five interceptions in 2020 and followed that up with 4,115 yards, 37 touchdowns and just four interceptions last season.

The future Hall of Famer went 13-3 as a starter both seasons and helped Green Bay earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC; however, playoff success eluded the Packers both times.

Their 2020 season ended with a home playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game, and last season they lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Round.

The four-time NFL MVP is still in search of his second Super Bowl ring, but he will have to go on that quest without wide receiver Davante Adams, who is no longer his top target after getting traded to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Still, with Rodgers at the helm, the Pack are expected to be a top team in the NFC again this season and Super Bowl contenders.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady turned 45 on Wednesday, and there's really no telling when the seven-time Super Bowl champion might hang up the cleats. Aaron Rodgers, on the other hand, is a different story.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback told reporters Wednesday that he doesn't envision himself playing in the NFL when he's 45.

"No, I don't, but happy birthday, Tom," Rodgers said when asked if he saw himself playing until that age.

Brady has long been interested in playing football until his age-45 season. However, he announced his retirement from the NFL in February before unretiring 40 days later to return to the Buccaneers for a third season.

At this point, it's unclear when the future Hall of Famer will officially retire, especially if he continues playing at a high level.

"I’ll know when the time’s right," Brady told NBC Sports' Peter King last summer. "If I can’t … if I’m not a championship-level quarterback, then I’m not gonna play. If I’m a liability to the team, I mean, no way. But if I think I can win a championship, then I’ll play."

During the 2021 season, he showed no signs of slowing down, completing 67.5 percent of his passes for 5,316 yards and 43 touchdowns against 12 interceptions. It was just the second time he had thrown for more than 5,000 yards in his career.

While Brady helped lead the Bucs to the playoffs, they were eliminated by the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round.

Now Brady enters his 23rd NFL season eyeing his eighth Super Bowl title, and he and the Buccaneers will have a solid chance to capture the championship as they boast one of the league's best offenses.

Tampa Bay's offensive unit, which includes Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Julio Jones, Cameron Brate, Kyle Rudolph, Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White, will wreak havoc on opposing defenses.

If Brady wins yet another title, it's hard to imagine he'll hang up the cleats ahead of the 2023 season.

As for Rodgers, he'll turn 39 in December. He is a 10-time Pro Bowler, four-time All-Pro, four-time MVP and a Super Bowl champion. Like Brady, he had a tremendous 2021 campaign, completing 68.9 percent of his passes for 4,115 yards and 37 touchdowns against four interceptions.

However, Rodgers and the Packers were eliminated from the divisional round with a loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

If Rodgers plays out his contract, he will have at least five more seasons to add another Super Bowl title to his list of accomplishments. He's under contract through the 2026 campaign and will become a free agent when he's 43.

Based on his comments on Wednesday, it's reasonable to believe that will be when Rodgers hangs up the cleats, if not sooner.