When you sign a player like Aaron Rodgers, you have to be comfortable ceding at least some control of the offense to him. A four-time league MVP brings too much experience to not give him some autonomy within the offense. But given his recent track record of being absent during the team-building process, could that cause some issues?
A panel of Steelers reporters discussed the level of control that the Steelers should give Rodgers.
“He has to have 100 percent autonomy, right? You don’t bring in Aaron Rodgers and expect him to change. At least I wouldn’t,” 93.7 The Fan’s Jeff Hatthorn said via KDKA’s #1 Cochran Sports Showdown. “The Steelers have to have a plan forward that includes Aaron Rodgers playing the way he wants to, the way he feels comfortable…I’m not changing Aaron Rodgers. I’m not gonna try to change Aaron Rodgers, and I’m gonna give him final editorial control at the line of scrimmage.”
Arthur Smith and Russell Wilson reportedly had some power struggles over control of the offense last season that seems to have caused a rift between them once the season ended and word got out about their rocky relationship.
Would Smith, who interviewed for head coach jobs and turned down interest from UNC, be comfortable handing over control. It’s one thing for him to take a step back in his career when he got fired by the Atlanta Falcons, but ceding control of his offense to a quarterback probably wasn’t on his five-year plan when he had to recalibrate his path forward.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Gerry Dulac said that Smith seems excited to work with Rodgers, and the six-hour meeting with him on Friday was reportedly positive overall. But things seemed to start on the right foot last year between Smith and Wilson and we all know how that ended.
“The Steelers aren’t gonna do what the Jets did last year and bring his gang from the Packers,” P-G’s Ray Fittipaldo said. “So from that aspect, if you are gonna give him full control, you better be here in OTAs. You better be here in minicamp, you better be engaged during training camp.”
Last year, Rodgers caused a scene when he missed mandatory minicamp with the New York Jets due to a pre-planned trip to Egypt. After a missed season due to injury and the hopes of the franchise resting on his shoulders, it wasn’t a great look. He knows darn well roughly which dates mandatory minicamp falls on. That is a pattern that can’t be repeated with the Steelers, who highly value the team-building process.
Say what you want about Russell Wilson, but he took the team-building process seriously.
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