The Pittsburgh Steelers have made it quite clear that they want four quarterbacks heading into training camp. Will one of those quarterbacks be Aaron Rodgers? The longer the saga goes on, the more people are getting frustrated with the wait.
Rodgers himself has said he completely understands if teams need to move on from him because of the delay. But will the Steelers be one of those teams that move on? Or will they hold out hope for as long as it takes for Rodgers to be ready?
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin previously spoke about training camp being a deadline for Rodgers. But he offered some clarification to that statement on Tuesday.
“To be quite honest with you, I don’t know that I meant that specifically for him or the circumstance,” Tomlin said during his pre-draft press conference per the team’s YouTube channel. “I’m just saying, in general, when you report to training camp, it’s a line of demarcation of development of a group, individually and collectively.”
And that makes sense. We’ve seen what happens to players who miss significant portions of training camp. Last year, rookie WR Roman Wilson suffered a high-ankle sprain and missed the rest of training camp and the preseason. Even when healthy, he only played five snaps for the season.
Now, that’s a more extreme case. Wilson was a rookie needing to learn both the Steelers’ offensive playbook and how to adjust to the NFL. Rodgers is a 20-year NFL veteran. But he still needs to learn the Steelers’ playbook and integrate with the team. That’s the important part of what Tomlin said.
If Aaron Rodgers were to miss significant time for training camp, it would hurt the Steelers’ development offensively. While Tomlin values protecting the ball, that doesn’t mean he wants to trot out a disjointed offense. That’s a great way to sow discord in the locker room and cause mistakes that lead to turnovers.
But at the same time, Tomlin isn’t saying it’s a hard-and-fast rule for Aaron Rodgers here. His comments don’t seem to suggest that if Rodgers isn’t in Latrobe, Pa., for the start of training camp, he can’t be a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But it would mean a lot for the development of the Steelers as a team.
What about Organized Team Activities? Does that carry the same weight for Tomlin?
“I hadn’t pondered those things, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said.
Obviously, OTAs do not hold the same weight with Tomlin as training camp when it comes to courting Rodgers. He’s spent time considering the impact of Rodgers not being under contract from camp, but not OTAs.
I think everyone would be happy if the Steelers had their quarterback situation figured out before OTAs, Aaron Rodgers or not. But training camp is much more important to Mike Tomlin. Is it important enough that Tomlin would say no to Rodgers if he isn’t there for report day? Only time will tell.
