The Aaron Rodgers saga barrels towards another turn of the calendar. From March to April to May and now heading into June, the Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t any closer to an answer than they were nine weeks ago. There’s the belief that Rodgers will sign with the team, but no official agreement says as much. Tiresome as it’s become to read (and write), the storyline is weighing just as heavily on those who make up the roster, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
“There are people in that locker room who I believe would tell you they’re already over this entire thing,” Pelissero said on The Rich Eisen Show Friday afternoon. “They just wanna know what’s going on. And they’re sick of hearing about it, and they’re sick of asking about it. They don’t wanna discuss it anymore.”
As John McClane said in the original Die Hard, Welcome to the party, pal.
It’s finality the entire organization and city will chase until Rodgers officially decides. And an answer that may not come for several more weeks. Absent the first week of OTAs, Rodgers doesn’t seem likely to show up for next week’s practices, either. That places all attention on the Steelers’ mandatory minicamp June 10-12. But with Rodgers not under contract, he has no obligation to attend. And if his goal is to skip all offseason activities, then there’s no reason to believe he’ll attend those, either. All while the players under contract get asked daily about Rodgers’ status and have to wonder themselves when an answer will come.
It follows similar comments made by the PPG’s Ray Fittipaldo after the first day of OTAs on Tuesday, sharing the “sense” players were fed up not necessarily with Rodgers but the storyline it’s brought.
For Pelissero, this situation is nearly unprecedented.
“I can’t think of another situation like this since probably the guy who preceded Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay when Brett Favre took it all the way to August 18th with the Vikings and then showed up,” he said.
Ahead of the 2009 season, Favre announced his retirement only to unretire in the middle of training camp. Like Rodgers, the media waited with bated breath for his decision, even camping outside his house at times. Favre proved the time lost wasn’t an issue, throwing 33 touchdowns and leading the Minnesota Vikings to a 12-4 record and the NFC Championship Game.
However, Favre didn’t have a steep learning curve for the Vikings’ offense, reuniting with Darrell Bevell, who served as quarterbacks coach with him in Green Bay. Rodgers enters with a cleaner slate, never working with OC Arthur Smith before. His ties to the team are loose threads: Rodgers played for Packers’ head coach Matt LaFleur, who worked with Smith for a season in Tennessee. Rodgers was also teammates with Steelers’ QB Coach Tom Arth for a few months early in his career.
The longer the wait, the more nauseating it will become. For us, for you, and for the Steelers’ locker room.
