With long courtship behind him, Aaron Rodgers learning the Steelers ropes on 'first day of school'

Ray Fittipaldo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jun 10, 2025

Published in Football

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PITTSBURGH — Aaron Rodgers is jumping on the proverbial moving train Mike Tomlin references so often. Eventually, the train will slow down, but on Tuesday, Rodgers felt like a rookie during his first day at the office on the first day of Steelers minicamp.

“Everything is new,” Rodgers said after practice. “It’s like the first day of school. I don’t know a lot of guys’ names. They don’t have names on the back of their jerseys yet. They don’t have names on the meeting rooms. I literally walk out of the locker room lost. I have to grab somebody and say, ‘Hey, where am I going?’ But I’ll get the feel of it. I’m excited about making this home.”

Rodgers might not know many of the new faces, but they know him. Rookie quarterback Will Howard was 4 years old when Rodgers entered the NFL in 2005 after being selected in the first round of the draft by the Green Bay Packers. Heck, even the oldest Steeler is six years younger than Rodgers and grew up watching him.

When Cam Heyward entered the league in 2011, Rodgers was fresh off of a victory in Super Bowl XLV over the Steelers and already had six years of NFL service under his belt.

“I’m fired up, too, man,” Howard said. “Believe me, he’s a guy I grew up watching, idolizing. It’s cool to be in the same room as him. Just hearing the first day, his thoughts, the way that he looks at things — he’s a legend in this game. I’m going to try and learn as much as I can from him and be the best support guy I can be for him. It’s amazing. The opportunity for me to learn and work with a guy like that is second to none.”

Rodgers spent most of practice watching Howard and the other quarterbacks run the offense during team and seven-on-seven drills. He watched alongside offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, trying to get a feel for the play calls and the verbiage in Smith’s offense.

Rodgers said he expects to have the playbook and the new verbiage down “in a couple of weeks.”

“I trust that whatever issues or learning curve things he needs to get through will be handled during the down period of the summer, for sure,” said Tomlin, who downplayed the significance of Rodgers not working with the starters.

“June reps are a heck of a lot more important for a guy like Will Howard than a guy who has been doing it for 20 years,” Tomlin added.

Rodgers did not call the Steelers to tell him he was going to sign until June 1, ending a monthslong courtship during which time he got married and had been dealing with some personal issues.

Rodgers said it wasn't until recently he felt comfortable making a commitment for the 2025 season.

“I was dealing with a lot of things in my personal life,” Rodgers said. “Things improved a little bit where I felt like I could be all in here with the guys. I didn’t want to short change the guys, be signed and be elsewhere mentally or physically. Until I could be here and be all in, I had to take care of business.”

The Steelers and Tomlin gave Rodgers the space to work through the issues in his personal life. He visited the Steelers for a day in March, but he kept in contact with Tomlin and other members of the Steelers front office for the past few months.

Rodgers said Tomlin’s handling of the situation is one of the main reasons he signed with the Steelers.

“A big attraction was Mike Tomlin,” Rodgers said. “The way the conversations went, ... they were some of the coolest conversations I’ve had in this game — definitely with a head coach. He’s a big reason I’m here. I believe in him.”

And why was Tomlin willing to wait so long for Rodgers?

“Read his resume,” Tomlin said.

Rodgers won his only Super Bowl at the expense of Tomlin and the Steelers. He also is a four-time NFL MVP and a future first-ballot Hall of Famer.

"We won’t make any bold predictions,” Tomlin said. “We’re going to roll our sleeves up and go to work and let our efforts do the talking.”

Rodgers went through individual drills on Tuesday, but he did not take part in any of the team drills. Tomlin wants him to learn the offense first before he does that. Rodgers plans to work with his receivers and tight ends after minicamp ends and he expects to be ready to practice in team drills next month when the team reports for training camp.

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