PITTSBURGH — In the locker room of the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, the offseason home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, veterans’ names are carved onto wood plaques affixed above their lockers. Most newcomers, on the other hand, have their names written on thick brown paper and tacked to their lockers. The implication is clear: in Pittsburgh, you’ve got to earn your permanence.
Most newcomers … but not all.
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Over in one corner of the locker room, with an empty locker on one side and Pat Freiermuth on the other, sits the locker of Aaron Rodgers, four-time MVP, Super Bowl champion, and Steelers quarterback on a one-year deal. He’s only been a Steeler for less than a week, but that wood plaque bearing his name is already there.
The implication is clear: Pittsburgh is all in on Rodgers. And Rodgers, in return, says he’s all in on this team … even if he’s still finding his way around.
“Everything’s new, it’s like the first day of school,” he said Tuesday after Pittsburgh’s first mandatory minicamp practice. “I don’t know a lot of guys’ names. They don’t have names on the back of the jerseys here. They don’t have names on the doors and the media rooms. And I literally walk out of the locker room lost, trying to grab somebody: ‘Hey, where am I going?’”
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That question — where is Rodgers going? — vexed much of the NFL, and particularly Pittsburgh fans, for most of the last few months, ever since the Jets severed ties with Rodgers following a failed two-year experiment. Rodgers, in typically elliptical fashion, indicated that the time spent keeping the NFL, and especially the Steelers, waiting was necessary from a personal standpoint.
“A lot of decisions that I’ve made over my career and life from strictly the ego, even if they turn out well, are always unfulfilling,” he said. “But the decisions made from the soul are usually pretty fulfilling. So this was a decision that was best for my soul.”
Rodgers cryptically hinted that off-field matters kept him from committing to the Steelers any earlier than he did. “I was dealing with a lot of things in my personal life,” he said. “Things improved a little bit, where I could be all in here with the guys.”
For Rodgers, there was one key factor that swayed him, one individual that pulled him toward Pittsburgh.
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“It starts with Mike Tomlin. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time,” he said, adding, “There are a few iconic franchises. I played for one for 18 years; this is another. There’s something special about this area.”
Aaron Rodgers (8) and Skylar Thompson (17) chat during practice at NFL football minicamp. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Out on the practice field, as the Allegheny River rushed by on one side and trains rolled past at regular intervals on the other, Rodgers and the Steelers worked with a demeanor that was serious but not intense. It’s still early, after all. Everyone’s in shorts. And for the moment, Rodgers is in a contemplative mood.
“I just want to have fun. I want to enjoy the game. The game’s given me a ton,” he said. “It’s hard to think of anything in my life that’s positive that wasn’t impacted, directly or indirectly, by playing this game. So I just want to give love back to the game, enjoy it, pass on my knowledge to my teammates, and try and find ways to help lead the team.”
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The team is inclined to let him lead, even if some of the Steelers can’t quite believe they’re playing with, you know … Aaron Rodgers.
“Him being here for me is a dream come true,” Will Howard — one of those paper-name-plate rookies — said before practice. “I was nine years old when he won the Super Bowl. At the ‘05 draft, I was three years old. I’ve been watching him pretty much my whole life.”
“It’s pretty cool,” center Zach Frazier said. “Myself as a younger kid would be pretty excited about that. I’m excited now.”
Frazier added that Rodgers had a message for the team: “All in, from now on.” (Rodgers, for his part, declined to reveal what he said to his teammates.)
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The Steelers have committed themselves to Rodgers. And he, in turn, is committing himself to them this season. A cynic would say that neither side had any other real options — the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since the 2016 season, and Rodgers has struggled to the point of irrelevance in recent years.
But this is summertime, when everyone is tied for first place and optimism runs high everywhere.
“I just want to be a servant leader here, and just pass on the knowledge that I have from 20 years of experience,” Rodgers said. “Just try and fit in with the guys, get to know them, let them get to know me. And just enjoy the process of it.”
The wins will come, or they won’t. The Steelers will post yet another .500-or-better season, or they won’t. It’s all up in the air right now for Rodgers and Pittsburgh, but for now, the mutual commitment is there.
“We’re excited about him being here. He’s excited about being here,” Tomlin said. “But we won’t make any bold predictions. We’ll just roll up our sleeves and let the effort do the talking.”
