Despite being new to the Pittsburgh Steelers and their offensive scheme, 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers didn’t suit up for a single game in the preseason under head coach Mike Tomlin. That has raised some concerns about his ability to be ready to hit the ground running in the season opener Sept. 7 on the road against the New York Jets.
But at his age and with his vast NFL experience, it’s understandable why he didn’t play a snap in the preseason, confining all of his work to training camp practices and the practices moving forward to get ready for the start of what is shaping up to be a potentially big year for the Black and Gold.
That hasn’t stopped many from questioning Tomlin’s decision not to play Rodgers, along with some other big names on the roster. As Tomlin likes to say, you can’t box without sparring. Well, Rodgers didn’t do any sparring this offseason, outside of a joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano doesn’t see an issue with that, though. Appearing on ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike Friday morning, Graziano defended the decision not to play Rodgers in the preseason.
“I think when you’re 41 and you’ve played as long as Aaron Rodgers has, you’ve earned the right to be able to say, ‘I know what I need to do to get myself ready,’” Graziano said of Rodgers, according to audio via ESPN. “Like, there’s guys that don’t play in the preseason. There’s teams that don’t play their starters. There’s teams that do play their starters. I feel like if there was data to suggest one way or the other, right, that this is good or bad, we would have it.
“And so, the fact that we don’t indicates that maybe it’s not as significant an issue as we think it is.”
Maybe it’s not a huge deal, especially for guys who have been around an organization for a bit, are well-versed in the scheme, and know how to get their bodies ready to go for the season. Names like Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt — two guys who didn’t suit up in the preseason, too — come to mind.
But with a guy like Rodgers, who hasn’t taken a live snap inside a stadium in Arthur Smith’s scheme, you’d think getting him out there for one series, going through the reps and communication through the headset in a stadium setting with his new team, would be productive.
Tomlin and the Steelers didn’t see it that way, instead trusting what they’ve seen in practice. That’s certainly a risk, because you can’t replicate game reps in practice no matter how hard you try. The joint practice might have been productive for the Steelers, but it wasn’t enough.
“I think we’ll see on Aaron Rodgers. All the reports I have are positive about how it’s working and how they’re practicing and how the offense is coming together. We’ll see what happens,” Graziano added. “The young offensive line, the run game needs to establish itself. I think they’re still putting some stuff together around him. You could make the argument that, ‘Oh, it’d be great to see it in a game.’ But a lot of these coaches really feel like the work they get in practice is enough.”
Only time will tell. A player of Rodgers’ stature has earned the right to have input on what he needs to do to get ready. There’s obviously a great deal of respect and admiration between him and Tomlin, and Tomlin is leaning into that, trusting his new quarterback.
It might look pretty sloppy out of the gate though, which is a real concern. Even with Rodgers and some other big names on the bench in the preseason finale Thursday night in Carolina, the Steelers were really sloppy early with penalties, missed tackles and turnovers.
Tomlin admitted that they have much to work on and clean up ahead of the season opener. Hopefully that doesn’t include getting the new quarterback up to speed entirely and ready to hit the ground running.
