Aaron Rodgers has been making the Pittsburgh Steelers wait all offseason. And as we get closer to some key offseason dates, the game starts to get a little more complicated. Organized Team Activities begin Tuesday in Pittsburgh. Rodgers still isn’t on the team yet, so it seems unlikely that he’ll be attending those OTAs, leaving former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth to wonder about Rodgers’ motivations.
“Listen, if you could be at some public venue, answering questions about your career, could you be at OTAs?” Schlereth said Monday on FS1’s Breakfast Ball.
The public appearance Schlereth is referring to came last week when Rodgers was on stage answering fan questions at a concert in Austin, Texas. While there, he even made an innuendo that he’d be joining a team that plays in Chicago this season, an obvious hint at the Steelers.
Rodgers hasn’t done a lot of talking this offseason. The first time he did came on The Pat McAfee show many moons ago, and he pointed to personal issues in his life that had kept him from making a decision about his future. He hinted at those issues again in an interview last week.
For obvious reasons, he’s gotten grace for that. And if he doesn’t make it to OTAs this week, it’s not the end or the world. It’s not rare for veterans to miss OTAs, and Rodgers is more qualified than just about anybody. With that said, this was a specific point many had pointed to, expecting a signing. If OTAs come and go without Rodgers in the building, the situation Pittsburgh is in only gets more complicated.
Now, some are starting to question Rodgers’ motives. He does deserve grace regarding the stuff going on in his personal life. However, the point Schlereth is making is that it’s not enough to stop him from doing live Q&A sessions, or going on Joe Rogan’s podcast for three hours.
Honestly, it’s hard to argue with Schlereth here. If Rodgers simply doesn’t want to attend OTAs, he’s a free agent, and it’s his right to miss them. However, it’s clearly not as if he needs to be at home all the time. With the first set of OTAs being such a brief period, it wouldn’t be especially difficult for Rodgers to participate in them. Rodgers could also use the time to develop chemistry with his new teammates.
Yet, the Steelers seemingly aren’t getting closer to Rodgers signing with them. And the longer this goes on, the stranger it seems to get.
Recommended for you