Though Aaron Rodgers is now settled in as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting quarterback and has integrated himself in their culture and locker room, establishing himself as a leader, for much of the offseason there were questions if he’d even become a member of the Black and Gold.
Prior to signing with the Steelers on June 5, Rodgers spent a lot of time dealing with things away from the game in his personal life. Things that didn’t let him commit to being a Steeler until he was ready. From March until right up to his signing day, there was plenty of speculation about Rodgers and his future, things that in the end weren’t true.
Comments were made by some members of the Steelers, too, including team captain and defensive star Cameron Heyward and safety DeShon Elliott. Heyward, as is well known at this point, made comments on his podcast that he wasn’t going to go on any darkness retreats with Rodgers to recruit him and added that he either wanted to be a Steeler or he didn’t.
Elliott didn’t say anything, but he wrote on Instagram that Rodgers should retire, mentioning a retirement home in a comment on a post.
Rodgers never said a word about them. Until now.
Appearing on Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast, Rodgers largely shrugged off the offseason comments, all while citing a famous quote from the Apple TV show Ted Lasso.
“Well, I think there’s a great quote in a TV show that I enjoyed called Ted Lasso. Ted talks about one of his favorite quotes: be curious, not judgmental. And I think that’s kind of how I wanted to approach this season,” Rodgers said to Heyward, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “And anybody that said anything, I try and put myself in their shoes as much as possible. And I respect the hell outta you and what you’ve accomplished in the game and your leadership from afar, it seems like you’re the type of leader that I’d wanna play with.
“So when you said that I didn’t take offense to that at all.”
Heyward’s comments raised eyebrows at the time, especially after just one year ago when Heyward was actively recruiting Russell Wilson, jumping on a phone call with him and making the case for the former Super Bowl-winning quarterback to join the Steelers.
He was singing a different tune about Rodgers, though he has said since then that his words were taken a bit out of context and run with by the national media. Still, he said what he said, and it was a sign of some frustration with the Steelers’ quarterback situation.
While Rodgers was dealing with personal things off the field, he understood where Heyward was coming from.
“Yeah, I totally understand. But just like when there’s narratives out there that I don’t feel like reflect my character, I usually say, and like I said to Terry Bradshaw about, I said, ‘I think if you get to know me, you would’ve a different opinion than me,’” Rodgers said to Heyward. “And I never got offended by anyone. I was actually more like excited to get to know you guys, thinking that if you got to know me and you gave me a chance to have a clean slate that I think you’d enjoy the person you get to meet.”
Rodgers has talked often about coming to Pittsburgh with a clean slate. During his 20-year NFL career, he’s been the poster boy for a number of years. He was arguably the best player in the league for a stretch, has won four NFL MVPs, a Super Bowl, dated a number of high-profile celebrities, and more.
But in recent years, he’s become viewed as a problem, or an enigma, as his documentary on Netflix is titled. Plenty of reports have surfaced about Rodgers being a problem in the locker room, a headache off the field for his beliefs and more.
So far in Pittsburgh, teammates are gravitating to him and really starting to enjoy the player and the person.
That includes Elliott, who trained with Rodgers this offseason after the comment.
According to Rodgers, Elliott had some really nice words for Rodgers after he signed with the Steelers.
“Those three days in minicamp DeShon came up to me in the locker room and said some really nice things afterwards, said, ‘My girl said I was gonna like you. I didn’t wanna give you a chance, but I’m really glad you’re here,’” Rodgers recalled. “And that meant the world to me, to have him say that.”
That seems to be the general consensus when it comes to Rodgers. Teammates who are actually in the locker room with him respect and admire him, play hard for him and follow him on the field. I’m sure there are some differences in beliefs off the field at times, but that’s normal in any setting where different humans are put together.
But time and time again, former teammates rave about Rodgers. The Steelers are starting to see that now, too.
Check out the full episode of Not Just Football with Cam Heyward featuring Rodgers and DK Metcalf below.
