With Aaron Rodgers waiting as long as he did to make a decision on his 2025 season, many Pittsburgh Steelers fans worried about how missing valuable time would affect him as he learns a new offense. For the first week or so of training camp, those fears mounted as the offense struggled to get out of the gate.
However, there’s been strong improvement since then. And according to Steelers.com’s Bob Labriola, Rodgers is making tremendous progress as he continues to learn Arthur Smith’s offense.
“We’re all familiar with that big, wide, looks like a sweatband that quarterbacks wear,” Labriola said Saturday night on WDVE’s pregame show. “They flip it up, and it has that laminated play call sheet there. Aaron Rodgers doesn’t wear one of those. And let’s not forget, this guy didn’t sign until minicamp. That was mid-June. He’s not wearing one of those, he hasn’t ever worn one of those so far in his time with the Steelers. He’s already got the offense down.”
Labriola is referring to the wristband that quarterbacks typically wear. They hear the play call from the offensive coordinator and can easily locate the play on the wristband. It’s especially helpful for young quarterbacks still finding their way, or any quarterback new to a system. Russell Wilson wore one as the Steelers’ quarterback last year.
Aaron Rodgers and his two decades of NFL experience don’t need that help quite as much. That said, it’s still impressive that he’s learning the offense this quickly without wearing one. As Labriola points out, he only had three days with the Steelers during minicamp in June, and even then he didn’t participate in team drills. Yet just a couple weeks into training camp, he’s already able to operate the offense without needing the play sheet on his arm.
The offense’s woes to begin training camp are well-known, but Rodgers and Co have made progress since then. He’s managed to strengthen his connection with DK Metcalf and strung together a few good performances with Roman Wilson this week. There’s still a long way to go, but Rodgers and his offense are slowly building chemistry together.
Steelers fans likely won’t see Rodgers on the field during their final two preseason games. He didn’t play Saturday in Jacksonville, and Mike Tomlin hinted that he likely won’t see any action during the three-game slate. However, the Steelers do have a joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week. That should give Rodgers a chance to get acclimated.
With Rodgers being 41 years old, there’s some sense in that decision. And if he’s making as much progress as Labriola is noticing, he might not need any preseason snaps after all.
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