During his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, new Pittsburgh Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers talked about wanting to earn a leadership role, mentoring rookie quarterback Will Howard, and mentioned that he’s hosting teammates in Malibu for a throwing session next week. Apparently, that’s not good enough for former NFL defensive lineman and ESPN analyst Chris Canty, who’s only takeaway from Rodgers’ appearance was that “nothing” he said had to do with helping the Steelers win, and it was a “self-serving” appearance to announce that 2025 may be his last season.
“It is the definition of self-serving with the timing of Aaron Rodgers doing this. Everything we heard him say on the McAfee Show had nothing to do with helping the Pittsburgh Steelers compete for a championship. It all had to do with him saying he wants to come back for the love of the game,” he said on ESPN’s UnSportsmanlike.
Incredibly, despite Rodgers saying that he was going to work out with players next week, Canty seemed to take away that Rodgers doesn’t want to put in the work to succeed between now and the start of training camp.
“There’s a lot of sacrifices that have to be made in order to put yourself, put your team in position to contend at the highest levels. And Aaron Rodgers hasn’t done any of that this offseason. At least with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the way he’s talking, it don’t sound like he’s going to do that with his summer break before training camp.”
It really begs the question of whether or not Canty actually watched Rodgers’ appearance or he just saw the clip of Rodgers saying that 2025 will likely be his last season. It’s unfathomable to me that the takeaway from his whole appearance was that he just wants to get a retirement tour and he’s not going to put in the work.
If Rodgers didn’t want to put in the work, why would he sign before mandatory minicamp? He could’ve just signed before training camp and showed up in Latrobe without being at minicamp and without making an effort to work with his teammates in Malibu next week. Rodgers also talked about knowing he has to earn leadership and wanting to put in the work every day during training camp to do so. He’s not coming in expecting to be revered by his teammates.
Really, it’s an asinine comment that doesn’t seem to be grounded in any sort of reality based off what Rodgers actually said. In a world of hot takes and analysts shouting into microphones, it would at least behoove someone like Canty to make an effort to parse through Rodgers’ comments before yelling that he isn’t going to put in the work, when the guy literally said he’s going to work out with teammates next week. If he didn’t want to put in the work, he could park his butt on a beach somewhere and wait until the start of training camp to reunite with his teammates. That’s not the case.
It’s a really stupid comment from Chris Canty and it’s honestly befuddling how he came to the conclusion that Rodgers isn’t playing this year to help the Steelers win.
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