The Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to terms with QB Aaron Rodgers on Thursday, but the news he was coming to Pittsburgh wasn’t a surprise to the team. ESPN insider Dan Graziano said on Get Up that Rodgers and Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith had been in touch over the last few weeks.
“He has been in touch with the Steelers throughout the process. They kind of knew where they stood,” Graziano said. “I know he’s been in touch with the offensive coordinator Arthur Smith over the past few weeks. So they’ve exchanged ideas, what it would look like, all that kind of stuff.”
That aligns with a report by CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones that Rodgers and the Steelers had been in “constant communication” throughout his free agent process, and it’s a positive for the Steelers that even though Rodgers wasn’t on the team, he was working with his offensive coordinator.
One of the concerns with Rodgers not showing up ahead of OTAs was that he’d be delayed in working with his receivers and learning Smith’s scheme. It’s a new offense for Rodgers, but even though he may not have been in the building, he was getting an idea of what Smith wants to do and the two were working on the offense. Rodgers may wind up having some say in the offense and how he likes things done, and Arthur Smith is good at tailoring his offense to the personnel he has available.
The two getting a head start on figuring out what might work should help mitigate any problems when Rodgers is in the building and working during mandatory minicamp and training camp. It won’t be a slower process for him to try and get in a groove, and while he hasn’t worked with most of his pass catchers yet, having a grasp of the offense heading into workouts is certainly beneficial.
It was reportedly important for the Steelers to have Aaron Rodgers signed and in the building for minicamp, and that will give him a baseline of what he’s working with on offense and allow him to actually practice within the offense instead of just learning and talking about it. The actual reps ahead of training camp should ideally make things seamless when the team heads to Latrobe, and for a team that wants to compete in the playoffs, being able to get right into the swing of things without needing its quarterback to ramp up will be a good thing.
Recommended for you