Aaron Rodgers is a controversial figure, for multiple reasons. However, he’s one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, and he announced that he plans on retiring once the 2026 season ends. While not everyone likes Rodgers, his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates seem to appreciate him. He and several other Steelers recently took a trip together to bond. Former NFL running back Leonard Fournette likes seeing that out of Rodgers.
“I think that’s great,” Fournette said Wednesday on his 4th and South podcast. “That’s wonderful because those are the guys he’s gonna depend on… I would love to see [Rodgers] go out on top with a ring.”
Fournette isn’t the only former player that thinks Rodgers’ trip with his teammates is a good sign, either. On that same podcast, former NFL wide receiver Jarvis Landry expressed a similar sentiment.
“I also think it could be a momentum boost for the back end of his career to be sharing these moments with these guys,” Landry said. “And it seems like he genuinely loves these guys. It seems like he genuinely loves this team and the organization…
“I’m excited to see if the momentum that you guys took from y’all Tampa trip to a Super Bowl, and we took in Cleveland to a playoff win, I’ll be interested to see if that leads to on-field success for [Rodgers].”
The two trips that Landry is referring to are a little different than what Rodgers and the Steelers did. Fournette’s Super Bowl win came with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020. That year saw the world dealing with a pandemic, so team getaways during the offseason weren’t very prevalent.
However, Tom Brady still got many Bucs players together to do workouts. That extra effort seemed to pay off, with the Bucs taking home the championship that season.
The Cleveland Browns only won a single playoff game with Landry on their roster, and that also came during the 2020 season. There’s less information available on how the Browns bonded that offseason, but whatever they did, it clearly worked. That was Cleveland’s first playoff win since 1994, and it came against the division rival Steelers.
Rodgers was new to the Steelers last year, but he’s pretty familiar with most of the team at this point. Perhaps that added familiarity will help the Steelers’ offense click more.
Of course, plenty of other teams have taken trips together, and they’ve had much less success. Some members of the 2016 New York Giants infamously took a boat trip before their playoff game, and they proceeded to get crushed by the Packers.
However, developing chemistry with Rodgers is important. There were many moments last year where the quarterback was visibly frustrated on the field. Maybe we’ll see less of those this year because of his increased comfort level with some of the Steelers’ skill players.
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