And away we go ...
The quarterback who promised he wasn't holding the Pittsburgh Steelers hostage is already making sure his new team customizes its offense to fit his dwindling skill set.
After ending a three-month waiting game by signing a one-year contract last week, Rodgers is expected to attend the Steelers' mandatory minicamp Tuesday. He's hovered over the organization all offseason, and now come reports that his influence is already tangible.
Over the weekend, ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler reported what we all knew was coming. According to Fowler, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and Rodgers have been in communication about changing the team's offense. That transformation includes finding a "sweet spot" where Rodgers can audible at the line of scrimmage but still stay true to the team's system.
"Teams I've talked to believe that Rodgers at this stage is a middle-of-the-pack quarterback," Fowler said "He's probably ranked 15-17 among the top 32. He's not that top-10 guy anymore, but the Steelers do believe he has the best field vision from the pocket since they've had Ben Roethlisberger. They believe he's still got plenty of arm strength and the New York Jets coaches I've talked to think he was a lot better than the stats showed last year. It's just simply a mobility issue. It's also how he is going to coalesce with Smith?"
Over and above helping harpoon the Jets' locker-room chemistry last season by skipping minicamp to vacation in Egypt, Rodgers was mediocre on the field. He threw a Pick 6 in a Week 5 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London that dropped their record to 2-3 and prompted the firing of both the head coach and general manager. Rodgers wound up throwing for almost 4,000 yards with 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, but he was more part of the problem rather than the solution during a dismal 5-12 season.
It will quite the "tweak" for the Steelers, transforming an offense built around mobile quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields to construct one around the 41-year-old pocket statue known as Rodgers. Last season he was sacked an eye-popping 40 times.
He will have new weapon DK Metcalf to target, but Rodgers is years removed - and a surgery to repair a torn Achilles - from winning his last MVP.
While Tomlin won his only Super Bowl with sturdy quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the pocket, 2008 was a long a time ago all of the sudden. Smith, meanwhile, has coached mobile quarterbacks such as Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder.
In the end, it appears Rodgers got what he wanted: To skip most of the Steelers' offseason program and to have a hefty say in what the offense looks like in 2025.