With the New York Giants signing QB Russell Wilson yesterday, it feels increasingly likely that QB Aaron Rodgers will sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers. While nothing is a guarantee, especially when it comes to Rodgers, the talk of the four-time NFL MVP to the Steelers has been ongoing for weeks, and during an appearance on Good Morning Football on Wednesday, Steelers DL Cameron Heyward weighed in on how the team would handle Rodgers’ personality. Peter Schrager asked if Heyward, as a leader, was “willing to embrace another huge personality and a guy who’s gonna bring a lot of attention.”
“I don’t think you throw down the hammer or the gauntlet. I think you welcome it,” Heyward said. “A lot of guys have different things they like to do outside of sports. I host the podcast Not Just Football. I need to get Aaron Rodgers on that podcast, but that’s not gonna shy away from Aaron wanting to do The Pat McAfee Show. And I’m excited for it. I think the more eyes you bring to our game, the better.”
Rodgers’ weekly appearances on The Pat McAfee Show could be a point of contention, and there were reports that the Jets had asked him to stop doing them if he were to return to New York. It doesn’t seem as if Heyward has a problem with them, though, and as one of the leaders in Pittsburgh’s locker room, Heyward largely sets the tone, so it likely wouldn’t be any sort of issue in the locker room.
While Rodgers is certainly a big personality who will get a lot of media attention, so was Russell Wilson. They may be different types of personalities and leaders, but Wilson certainly was someone who brought a lot of attention to the Steelers. The type of attention Rodgers brings may be different, but it’s not really going to be an adjustment for the locker room to have another veteran quarterback to whom the media is going to pay close attention.
It’s hard to definitively say that there won’t be any issues before Aaron Rodgers even joins the Steelers, if he does, but given that Pittsburgh’s locker room is full of veterans who have been around the block and just want to win, if Rodgers does his job and helps the Steelers win football games, everything will take care of itself. Especially on a team where multiple players have podcasts, including Heyward, Rodgers’ weekly media appearances on The Pat McAfee Show likely wouldn’t ruffle any feathers inside the locker room. While he hasn’t talked to Aaron Rodgers like Pat Freiermuth has, Heyward seems excited about the Steelers potentially adding Rodgers.
“When I look at our team right now, it would be really cool to have a guy like Aaron Rodgers,” Heyward said.
We’ll see if Rodgers agrees it would be cool to play for the Steelers and when he decides to make up his mind about where he’ll play in 2025.
