{"id":84297,"date":"2025-05-28T03:32:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T03:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/84297\/"},"modified":"2025-05-28T03:32:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T03:32:14","slug":"what-pittsburgh-steelers-players-are-saying-about-aaron-rodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/84297\/","title":{"rendered":"What Pittsburgh Steelers players are saying about Aaron Rodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers <\/a>started their OTAs on Tuesday, and there was no sign of Aaron Rodgers<\/a>. That left Mason Rudolph<\/a> as the starter and several players with looming questions. <\/p>\n

On the Pat McAfee Show in April, Rodgers said he would not sign a deal with a team until he felt he could fully commit to them with his personal life in order.<\/p>\n

In his latest interview on the Joe Rogan Experience<\/a>, Rodgers may have just revealed and hinted at the issues he hopes to resolve in his personal life.<\/p>\n

Rodgers said multiple people in his life are dealing with serious illnesses, including cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve figured it out during the last year when I\u2019ve been in the weeds with these people who are close to me that have cancer,\u201d Rodgers said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That is taking a personal toll on Rodgers, who discussed non-conventional treatment options on the podcast. Still, he offered no certain timetable for a decision and seemed focused on his personal life first before anything else.<\/p>\n

Either way, Rodgers was the talk of the first OTAs session, and here is what players had to say about him:<\/p>\n

LB Patrick Queen<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m fine with the guys we got right now,\u201d he said. \u201cBut … when I was little, I was a fan of Aaron Rodgers. So it would be cool to have him on the team and stuff, but at the same time, the three guys we got right now, I\u2019ll roll with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

QB Mason Rudolph<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s nothing new to me. There\u2019s been constant noise. That\u2019s the nature of the NFL. I\u2019ve been used to that for a long time now. I do nothing but be the best I can be and help our team get better this spring.\u201d<\/p>\n

DT Cam Heyward<\/p>\n

Heyward has four separate quotes on Rodgers, and was asked about it extensively. <\/p>\n

On if Rodgers needs to be here for OTAs:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think sometimes we put so much stock into the offseason where we can get caught up into thinking it\u2019s everything. Yes, it can help. Yes, guys can get better. But, who\u2019s to say you can\u2019t get better outside of here. I hate to point to it, but last year I missed all of OTAs. So, it didn\u2019t really help me.\u201d<\/p>\n

On if Heyward would prefer Rodgers be at OTAs:<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care. Who says you can\u2019t be better if you aren\u2019t here? To each their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

On if Heyward feels he has to recruit Rodgers: <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no need to recruit. It\u2019s been more black and white up front.\u201d<\/p>\n

On if the weight of the Rodgers saga is felt at practice: <\/p>\n

\u201cYou roll with who\u2019s here. It\u2019s not guessing. You gotta get to work you put in. You can\u2019t worry about who\u2019s not here. Same way goes if I was to miss practice. Train keeps going. We\u2019ll see what happens. You really just can\u2019t worry about what\u2019s going on outside of here. That\u2019s the way the Steelers have always run the ship.\u201d<\/p>\n

WR Calvin Austin III<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we\u2019re proceeding as necessary. With Mason at quarterback we made the playoffs and went to a playoff game. In the fourth quarter against the Bills, it was a one-score game with Mason. So, all of us have full confidence in Mason. We have full confidence in the coaching staff. We have full confidence in each other. So, when we get out here, we block all of that out and just work. That\u2019s what makes this place special. At the end of the day, the thing that is most important is the product you put on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

WR Roman Wilson<\/p>\n

\u201cI play receiver. Obviously, it matters who throws me the ball but at the end of the day I do play receiver. So, all I can do is run routes and get open for whoever is playing quarterback.\u201d<\/p>\n

TE Pat Freiermuth<\/p>\n

\u201cI just take it day by day. It is what it is, but I\u2019m trying to put my head down and be a leader for this offense. We got a lot of new faces on this team and just kind of uphold the standard that I learned from older guys when I was here. So, there\u2019s a lot of other things I can be doing other than worrying about who\u2019s gonna be our quarterback.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers started their OTAs on Tuesday, and there was no sign of Aaron Rodgers.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,6,3846,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-84297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-nflraw24","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114583355192293200","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}