Aaron Rodgers may have missed voluntary OTAs while he remained unsigned, but he plans on making up for the lost time leading up to training camp. He got some one-on-one time with DK Metcalf in late March before he had officially committed to Pittsburgh but will now open things up to the rest of the team.
The veteran QB was asked during his introductory press conference Tuesday if he anticipates working with some of his teammates.
“I do. I just gotta try and convince them to come out to Malibu, California,” Rodgers joked via the Steelers’ YouTube. “It’s gonna be a tough sell I think.”
Ben Roethlisberger used to take a bunch of his guys to a lake house in Georgia. Of course, they did practice and work together, but it was also a bonding experience. NFL players don’t have a very big window to vacation throughout the year, so it’s nice to be able to combine business and pleasure. Rodgers’ open invite to Malibu should be similar.
Last year, Russell Wilson hosted Justin Fields, Kyle Allen and several of the pass catchers on the team in San Diego for a workout in the weeks leading up to camp. Several of the young receivers talked about how important that extra work was. I would imagine the same thing will be true this year for guys like Roman Wilson, who is essentially going to be making his NFL debut after a rookie season lost to injury.
Rodgers told the media that learning the offense and acclimating to his teammates is two different things and that the offense would only take a couple weeks to get down. The teammates are a different story, and there is no way to build that chemistry without time spent on the field. This gives Rodgers three days of mandatory minicamp, a week of work in Malibu, and a little over three weeks of training camp to build that chemistry.
He also spoke about helping Will Howard as much as he can during today’s press conference. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Rudolph, Howard and Skylar Thompson are all invited to Malibu.
