While the Pittsburgh Steelers never set a hard deadline, it sounds like next week’s mandatory minicamp was the put-up or shut-up moment for Aaron Rodgers. After giving him nearly three months of grace, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reports the team made it known it was “important” for Rodgers to attend the team’s minicamp, the final three practices before the team breaks for the summer.
Rodgers will do that after agreeing Thursday to sign a one-year with the Steelers, according to multiple reports.
Pittsburgh showed more patience with Rodgers than any other external free agent in recent memory if not team history. Unsigned ahead of draft weekend, Rodgers was also absent for Phases 1 and 2 of the team’s offseason program and all six of the team’s voluntary OTA sessions that wrapped up earlier Thursday.
Had Rodgers skipped minicamp, he wouldn’t be on the field with the entire team and coaching staff until training camp, leading to plenty of lost ground to make up. Even getting on the field next week puts him behind every other starting quarterback who participated in their team’s OTA practices.
Breer’s report shows Rodgers at least understood Pittsburgh’s urgency. Though he’s been criticized for spending time away from football while appearing on podcasts and answering questions at concerts, all while teasing an eventual signing, he’ll be with his new teammates come next Tuesday. The Steelers have their fourth quarterback on the depth chart, Rodgers now joining Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson, and rookie Will Howard.
Rodgers can serve as a mentor to someone like Howard. Despite the narratives surrounding him, Rodgers is regarded as a helping hand by coaches who know him well.
While Mike Tomin and Omar Khan never showed much concern, owner Art Rooney II at least showed some impatience over Rodgers’ protracted decision-making. He said several times that the team would be willing to wait only “a little while longer,” though that repetition quickly felt hollow, and Rooney once admitted he didn’t realize it would take so long for finality. And that was back in early April.
It’s not a “best case” scenario. That would’ve meant Rodgers gave an answer two months ago. But it avoids the worst-case possibility of entering a long six-week stretch from June until late July with the coaches, players, fans, and media wondering when and if Rodgers would hop onboard.
