Aaron Rodgers Mike McCarthy Steelers coaching staff
Aaron Rodgers Mike McCarthy Steelers coaching staff
Aaron Rodgers can’t commit to returning to the Steelers, but he admits their new coaching staff is a big draw. It’s not surprising, considering it’s full of people with whom he’s worked in the past. That starts right at the top with Mike McCarthy, his head coach in Green Bay for 13 years. But it certainly doesn’t end there, and he didn’t hide his enthusiasm about that on the Pat McAfee Show.
“There’s some great characters”, Rodgers conceded when pressed about the Steelers’ new coaching staff and his connections to them. “Listen, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that that was something that I enjoyed seeing. All those guys getting back together. It’s some of the guys that had the greatest impact on my career”.
The first name on the Steelers’ new staff Rodgers mentioned, having already discussed McCarthy, is new OL coach James Campen. The two had a close relationship in Green Bay, calling him very influential to him. Of Campen, he said that he “used to take me out when I was a rookie on the road because I didn’t know where to go, what to do”.
Rodgers also mentioned the Steelers’ new strength and conditioning coaches, Mark Lovat and Grant Thorne, formerly of the Packers. “Had a lot of fun and success with [Lovat]. He’s one of the great humans in the business”.
The lone tie ties between the Steelers’ staff and the Packers’ old staffs are QB coach Tom Arth, with whom Aaron Rodgers worked directly last year, and ILB coach Scott McCurley. Mike McCarthy retained both, and that did not escape his former quarterback’s attention.
“That would be a draw if I decided we’d go down that path, but, again, it takes two to tango”, Rodgers said of the Steelers’ very familiar new coaching staff. “We’ll see what happens as we get into free agency”.
Even new Steelers DC Patrick Graham briefly worked in Green Bay while Rodgers was there. He also has a prior history with chief of staff Steve Scarnecchia, and he played with assistant OL coach Jahri Evans. “I love the staff”, he conceded. “Mike’s done a really good job of putting that staff together”.
After the season ended and Mike Tomlin resigned, Steelers owner Art Rooney II made clear that that could have a big impact on Aaron Rodgers’ decision to come back or not. With a new coaching staff with which he already has great familiarity, however, that issue is significantly neutralized. It won’t make or break his decision, but it would certainly make it easier to want to return.
Aaron Rodgers is 42 years old, but the Steelers still want him back. While he did not commit to playing, he did tell Pat McAfee that he is staying in shape. Although he gave, let’s say, alternative reasons for his motivation to do so. Understandable ones, certainly, but not exactly the fitness test Lovat will have him running through.