Aaron Rodgers ended weeks of drama this month, officially signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers and starting a new era of his career.
Despite the controversy of his extended free agency, there does not appear to be any lingering tension between Rodgers and his new teammates. One insider reported this week that the players had a surprise reaction after meeting the future Hall of Famer for the first time.
Aaron Rodgers Moving Beyond Rough Tenure in New York
Rodgers is fresh off a turbulent two-year stretch with the New York Jets that started with a season-ending injury on his first drive of the season and continued into a second season where the team fired both its head coach and general manager. The Jets suffered through some off-the-field drama with Rodgers before his release earlier this offseason, with some accusing Rodgers of passing off blame to his teammates.
Rodgers appears to be off to a better start in Pittsburgh. Reporter Jeff Hathhorn said in an appearance on Pittsburgh sports radio station 93.7 The Fan that Steelers players were pleasantly surprised after meeting Rodgers.
“I think their impression was better than they anticipated,” Hathhorn said, via Josh Carney of Steelers Depot. “I think most of them are like, ‘Yeah, he’s a cooler guy. He is more normal than what you hear about,’ because you hear so many things about Aaron Rodgers. Once they experienced him at least for three days, I think they were pleasantly surprised with what they saw.”
Rodgers is also walking into a better situation with a more thoroughly functional franchise in Pittsburgh. The Steelers made the playoffs last season behind a strong defense and competent offense, then added more talent this offseason by trading for Pro Bowl receiver DK Metcalf. The Jets, by contrast, have the NFL’s longest playoff drought at 14 seasons.
Aaron Rodgers Still Sore Over Jets Seasons
While Rodgers is off to a good start with the Steelers, he appears to still harbor some ill will toward the Jets and the team’s approach to building their offense. Friend and former NFL player Mark Schlereth said in a recent episode of the Stinkin’ Truth Podcast that Rodgers went on a 25-minute rant about the team’s shoddy running game.
“One thing Aaron and I had a conversation about when he was with the Jets was how abysmal the run game was, and how schematically, it made no sense,” Schlereth said. “I brought up the conversation, I started the conversation and then Aaron went on about a 25-minute diatribe on their run game. I was watching the Jets last year, it was the worst schematic run game I’ve ever watched in the NFL.”
Schlereth said he studied some tape of the Jets’ offense last season and came to the same conclusion as Rodgers.
“I kept watching plays … there’s a difference between having guys that can’t block people, but having your players do things that make zero sense,” he said. “Why in the world would you block this this way? This scheme has zero chance of being successful.”
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