Physical traits are useful at the quarterback position, but the Pittsburgh Steelers are betting big on the cerebral side of the position with 41-year-old QB Aaron Rodgers. He certainly can’t run around and create with his legs like Justin Fields can, but the Steelers believe he has something that no quarterback has had since Ben Roethlisberger retired.
“They believe that they get the best field vision from a quarterback that they’ve had since Ben Roethlisberger, that he can solve problems for them at the line of scrimmage,” Jeremy Fowler said via ESPN’s SportsCenter. “They haven’t really had that. He can get solutions and figure things out with his mind. They believe he still has plus arm strength.”
A large part of that is going to be ceding some control of the offense to Rodgers. Arthur Smith eventually stripped some of that power away from Russell Wilson last year. Based on what Fowler is saying, they must not have fully trusted what Wilson was seeing. That won’t be an issue with Rodgers, who is known as one of the smartest quarterbacks ever to play the game.
I always think back to when Pat Freiermuth let it slip on Ben Roethlisberger’s podcast that they didn’t have hot routes with Kenny Pickett at quarterback. The plays that were called were what they ran. It was an effort not to overload too much on a young quarterback’s plate. They don’t need to worry about that with Rodgers. His play recognition and experience can help them avoid losing situations before the snap.
He has one of the best hard count cadences in the league, which forces defenses to show their hand before the snap. Once he sees who is moving, he can quickly adjust protections and routes if needed.
According to Fowler, the Steelers view their young receiving corps as well-suited to work with Rodgers.
“They also believe that their receivers are young, hungry, and smart,” Fowler said. “They believe that’s a good fit with what Rodgers likes ’cause he does all that line of scrimmage hand signal stuff. They gotta get on the same page, so they have to be smart.”
According to veteran WR Robert Woods’ read of the WR group, he thinks they should only need “a few weeks” to get up to speed with Rodgers. With three days of mandatory minicamp, potential gatherings in the month leading up to training camp, and then, of course, training camp itself, they should have plenty of time to jell as an offense.
To Fowler’s point about his arm strength. He still showed he can sling it last season. Here’s just one example.
The arm strength is nice, but the mental side of the game is why the Steelers really wanted him.
