Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers is leaning into his final year, except when it comes to playing in preseason
LATROBE — There was a time when the preseason felt like the Super Bowl to Aaron Rodgers.
Now is not that time.
While the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback is trying to soak in every moment of what he says will be his 22nd and final NFL training camp, he doesn't sound like someone who thinks he needs to be on the field when the Steelers host Green Bay in their exhibition opener Thursday night.
“It's not real football,” Rodgers said.
At least, not “real” compared to what things will look like when the games start to count in September. Most defenses are vanilla. Most offenses, too. The four-time MVP understands August is still a valuable time of year, just not for someone who has been in the league nearly as long as some of his teammates — backup quarterbacks Drew Allar (22) and Will Howard (24) — have been alive.
“I think preseason football is good to see guys with pads on, under the lights, how they react to the nerves,” he said.
Nerves Rodgers once had himself. He remembers running onto the field as a rookie with Green Bay in 2005 and trying desperately to keep his breathing under control. He failed as much as he succeeded.
Back then, the goal was to make sure he could hear the play coming through the headset so he could repeat it with conviction in the huddle. And that was the easy part.
The challenge was then walking to the line of scrimmage and “trying to remember what else is going on in the play and who’s got what.”
Those jitters eventually subsided. It took a while, but they're long since gone. It's why he feels the Steelers will be better served with Rodgers watching from the sideline with a headset on while Howard — who didn't take a live snap last year after getting hurt early in camp — and Allar do the majority of the work.
Rodgers described the first game as traditionally “hectic,” one of many reasons his preference is to be in sweatpants offering perspective.
“I like to be the voice of reason, tell the occasional dad joke or one-liner,” he said. “Just help everybody settle in a little bit.”
Mike McCarthy, in his first season coaching his hometown team, played a little coy about whether he'll ask Rodgers to see a little game action, though McCarthy might have tipped his hand a bit when he said he'd divide the offense into three groups.
One group will handle the first couple of series. The second will play until halftime, with the third taking over for the final two quarters.
The math is pretty easy. Pittsburgh currently has four quarterbacks — Rodgers, Howard, Allar and Mason Rudolph — on the roster. Only one of them has operated a McCarthy offense in a game, and it's the one who will turn 43 in December.
“Frankly, the most important part is the health of the team,” McCarthy said. “That drives these decisions. That’s where you tend to maybe pull back and maybe not play the veteran or the older guys in those situations. You just lean on their experience.”
McCarthy is well-versed in what Rodgers can do. Howard and Allar remain very much works in progress and could have the opportunity to be a long-term part of Pittsburgh's future. They'll take their first real steps in that direction Thursday, and Rodgers wants to help make sure those steps are more assured than tentative.
“Quarterback, just like all things, can be overcomplicated to make it seem more difficult than it might be sometimes,” he said. “It’s not easy, but you can simplify things, and that’s what I’m trying to help with.”
Rodgers' most recent preseason snaps came three years ago during the first of his brief two-season stint with the New York Jets. He was “open” to doing it last summer in Pittsburgh, though former head coach Mike Tomlin opted to hold him out. The decision looked like the right one when Rodgers threw for four touchdowns in a Week 1 win over his old team.
Rodgers was still finding his way back then. Now, he's far more familiar with the personnel around him, and his reunion with McCarthy means he's ending his career in the same system where he began it a generation ago.
It's why he believes the real growth during camp comes on the practice field. He likes what he's seen so far, which is part of why he's just fine letting others get chased around by opponents during the waning days of summer.
“I think we’re right where I’d like to be,” he said. “I think we’re ahead of where we were last year. I think you’re seeing guys take some steps and then play with confidence.”
