The Pittsburgh Steelers’ newest starting quarterback, four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers, is coming off two frustrating seasons with the New York Jets. In Rodgers’ first season with the Jets, he went down for the season with an Achilles injury on the very first drive of the year.
Rodgers was healthy and available in his second year in New York, but the Jets only mustered five wins. One of Rodgers’ newest teammates, safety DeShon Elliott, lets Rodgers hear it about his recent struggles.
“I’m a troll. He’s an All-Pro and he’s a GOAT. He’s going to be a gold jacket guy one day. Honestly, when he got here, we communicated, we talked, he’s a great person and a great football player, so whoever the media’s put out there is B.S.,” Elliott said.
“I respect him a lot. I told him that I respect him, and I apologized to him for the things I was saying about him. Honestly, he’s a great man and he has a great heart, so I appreciate him and he’s funny as hell.”
It’s worth noting that Rodgers took the high road about any comments his new teammates may have had about him.
“Well, I think there’s a great quote in a TV show that I enjoyed called Ted Lasso. Ted talks about one of his favorite quotes: be curious, not judgmental. And I think that’s kind of how I wanted to approach this season and anybody that said anything, I try and put myself in their shoes as much as possible.
“And I respect the hell outta you and what you’ve accomplished in the game and your leadership from afar, it seems like you’re the type of leader that I’d wanna play with. So when you said that I didn’t take offense to that at all.”
This is the sort of maturity one might expect from a player entering his year-41 season. It seems the Steelers are aware of their quarterback’s advanced age relative to the rest of the league and are electing to keep him sidelined for the time being.
“Mike Tomlin said Aaron Rodgers will not play Thursday night in Carolina, along with TJ Watt, Cam Heyward and DK Metcalf. It is the first time in recent memory a healthy Steelers starting QB did not play a snap in a preseason game, dating to before Ben Roethlisberger,” reported Steelers writer Gary Dulac.
It’ll be interesting to see how Rodgers does in the early part of the season without any preseason reps.