Adam Thielen and Germie Bernard won’t be teammates. Thielen retired after a long NFL career, one that wrapped up with the Pittsburgh Steelers last season. Bernard was drafted months later as a fresh face to revamp the wide receiver depth chart.
Even from afar, Thielen can offer advice that Bernard should heed.
“You find a way to do it. Because you know that if you don’t, you’re not getting the ball or you’re just not playing,” Thielen said on ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike when asked if he could learn a Rodgers-led offense as a rookie. “So you just find a way. You just do what it takes.”
Thielen repeated his past comments on the challenge of learning the nuances of the offense and earning Rodgers’ trust. It’s about understanding and memorizing each hand signal and check, of which there are many, to adjust at the line of scrimmage.
Drafted in 2005, Rodgers is an old-school quarterback in the sense of his ability to run an offense in a world where most quarterbacks rarely stray from the intended call.
Even for a veteran like Thielen, playing with Rodgers last year was a challenge. Joining the team midseason as a waiver claim made things especially difficult, and Bernard has the luxury of a full offseason with Rodgers.
Thielen’s approach wasn’t direct advice to Bernard, but it applies all the same.
“You sacrifice a little bit on your weeknights to study a little bit and ask questions during the week. Just get on the same page,” he said. “Maybe it’s pull him aside. He loves it. He’s not gonna go out of his way to pull you aside. But he loves when young guys especially will pull him aside and say, ‘Let’s get these extra reps in practice.'”
It doesn’t appear Bernard joined Rodgers and teammates for their recent mountain getaway, but Bernard is mature with a strong work ethic. He’s on-record embracing the challenge of learning from and being challenged by Rodgers. That process began during OTAs where Rodgers took team reps after missing them all last offseason. In 2025, it wasn’t until training camp in late July that Rodgers took his first team rep. The process resumes in two weeks when Pittsburgh reports to training camp.
Bernard is a rookie, but if he can act like a veteran, he’ll see the field and have a reasonably productive first year. It’s something Pittsburgh sorely needs.
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