The Pittsburgh Steelers begin their on-field portion of OTAs on Tuesday, and QB Aaron Rodgers has yet to make a decision on whether or not he’s signing with them. It’s no secret that the team has pursued Rodgers, and former All-Pro CB Chris Harris Jr. thinks it could be a problem if the team shows up on Tuesday and Rodgers isn’t in the building.
“When you have your quarterback there, you see him as the CEO of the team, he runs the show,” Harris said Friday on On Good Morning Football. “And when you have that guy that’s not there, and he’s not preparing for the season, your team is kind of lost. They don’t have a leader to look up to. Aaron Rodgers, he’s a guy that as soon as walks in the building, everybody’s gonna look up to him.”
Even though Rodgers is a veteran, Harris believes if he doesn’t show up for OTAs it’ll still be “missed time” that the four-time NFL MVP needs to build chemistry with his receivers and the rest of Pittsburgh’s offense. If Rodgers does sign with the Steelers, it’ll be an offense with players he hasn’t played with (although he did throw with DK Metcalf this offseason) and an offensive coordinator he’s never worked with in Arthur Smith.
While it won’t be an extreme learning curve by any measure, getting familiar with who’s in Pittsburgh’s building will help Rodgers be more successful in 2025. He may feel he can do that during mandatory minicamp or training camp, but the earlier he’s in the building, the better off things should be in Pittsburgh. With OTAs fast approaching, it doesn’t seem all that likely that Rodgers will sign by Tuesday, but it’s at least still a possibility.
Rodgers, if he signs, will be the starter, but it’s not as though there’s a leadership void for the Steelers. Mason Rudolph at least has familiarity with a lot of the players around him from his first stint in Pittsburgh, and TE Pat Freiermuth has emerged as a leader on offense. But Freiermuth isn’t a quarterback, obviously, and Harris’ point is that the quarterback by default is the player teams look up to and view as a leader. And it could raise some questions for the Steelers why the player who is supposed to lead them all season isn’t around the team during a crucial juncture in the offseason.
It might wind up being a non-issue, but Aaron Rodgers’ delay in signing could wind up being more of a problem than it seems.
