TOO LATE, TOO DESPERATE: RODGERS IS BACK BECAUSE OF HIS “SOUL,” NOT HIS EGO
It’s hard to believe anything he says, especially when he injects “Yinzers” into thoughts, but Rodgers is looking forward to peace with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have no idea what happens next
Even for a truth-dodger who openly lied about COVID immunization, then pranked us as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, this day should have arrived much sooner. Only Aaron Rodgers would report to his final NFL team in June — so many weeks and months behind — because he was getting married.
I do, he said.
I do, said a woman named Brittani, not Spears.
“Yeah, it’s a wedding ring,” he said Tuesday, giving pause to Shailene Woodley, Danica Patrick, Olivia Munn and who knows who else. “Been a couple of months.”
Rodgers is in love, it seems. “It’s a good feeling, it is,” he said, not mentioning if it will make him a better quarterback at 41 and 42. He also is dealing with unnamed people in his world who are battling cancer, but we all deal with hell on the job. Don’t we? So why not retire like anybody else in March, April or May? Didn’t he care about the Pittsburgh Steelers — his bosses, his coach, his teammates, the fans in that diehard sports town who dislike him? Why would he let personal matters, in his 21st NFL season, interfere with so many lives?
Tom Brady never did, including a divorce. Peyton Manning never did, including a wobbling throwing arm. Patrick Mahomes never did, including Taylor Swift. But here’s Rodgers, showing up 85 days after free agency ended and less than two months before the first preseason game. We are supposed to understand his tardiness, as if it’s a shrugworthy fact of life. I do not. His career has fallen into darkness, far from his four-MVP acclaim, after he tore his left Achilles tendon almost two years ago. He was the league’s worst quarterback against the blitz last season in New York. He has won only one Super Bowl, 14 years ago, when Jalen Hurts was 13.
What gives him a right to be late? What gives him a right to make $13.65 million this year? Why did Mike Tomlin, who won his only Super Bowl with the Steelers in 2009, wait from winter to spring until the beginning of summer? Both men are very desperate. It’s not a pretty sight.
“I was dealing with a lot of things in my personal life and some things improved a little bit, where I felt like I could fully be all-in here with the guys,” Rodgers said in his first media availability at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “I didn’t want to short-change the guys and sign and be elsewhere — mentally or physically — so until I could be here, and be all-in, I needed to take care of my business.”
Can he still play? “I’m 41. The body feels different than it did at 25,” Rodgers said. “But I feel good. I felt good last year. I worked really hard. It was a tough couple years getting hurt and then rehabbing to get back. But I feel good.”
His decision to keep playing wasn’t based on ego. I don’t buy it. He needs a last gasp, after his career seemed done. “I don’t need it for my ego,” Rodgers said. “I don’t need to keep playing. A lot of decisions that I’ve made over my career and in life, from strictly the ego, even if they turn out well, are always unfulfilling. But the decisions made from the soul are usually pretty fulfilling. This is a decision that was best for my soul. This was a decision that was best for my soul and I felt like being here with (Tomlin) and the guys, and the opportunity here was the best for me and I'm excited to be here.”
It didn’t take him long to acknowledge local fans. He called them “Yinzers,” thinking it might pacify those who are angry about his selfishness. Why Pittsburgh? When, at first, Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan wanted Matthew Stafford from Los Angeles and wanted to keep Justin Fields, who left to replace Rodgers with the New York Jets.
“A big attraction was Mike Tomlin,” Rodgers said. “I’ve been a fan of his for a long time. The way that the conversations went between him and I were some of the coolest I’ve had in the game, definitely with a head coach. So he’s a big reason I’m here. I believe in him and excited to play for him. There’s a few iconic franchises in the NFL. I played for one of them (in Green Bay) for 18 years. This is another one of those. There’s something special about — obviously this area, so many great quarterbacks are from Pittsburgh.”
Joe Montana, who has four Super Bowl rings. Joe Namath. Dan Marino. Jim Kelly. At this stage, Rodgers doesn’t rank with them, but he’ll give it a shot. “I feel like Pittsburgh has been a part of my career from the beginning, playing for Mike McCarthy for 13 years, having Tom Clements — or Tommy Clements, depending on how old you are — as my quarterback coach forever. Dom Capers, Kevin Greene, Darren Perry, Ben McAdoo, Frank Cignetti, Luke Getsy. I don’t want to forget anybody, but a lot of ‘Yinzers’ in my life.”
Said Tomlin, when asked about Rodgers: “Read his resume. I'll be straightforward with you. June reps are a heck of a lot more important for a guy like (rookie) Will Howard at this stage of his career than the guy who's been doing it for 20 years.”
He will not be a Yinzer, in any shape or form, until he at least reaches the playoffs. That remains doubtful in an AFC that includes the Chiefs, Bills and Ravens — who will dominate the AFC North again with Lamar Jackson — along with the Chargers, Texans, Broncos and Bengals. Rodgers reports with another cloud of controversy beyond him: Star edge rusher T.J. Watt wants a major extension and has not reported to minicamp. The Steelers claim to be ready for whatever happens this season, despite the long wait.
“He said he’s all-in from now on,” center Zach Frazier said. “Sky’s the limit. The goal is to put up a lot of points every game. That’s what we’re here to do.”
“Urgency,” said tight end Pat Freiermuth. “Make some noise in the playoffs.”
“We’re very excited,” receiver Roman Wilson said. “Probably a Hall of Famer. Super Bowl champion. A lot of experience. A lot of wisdom and a guy I can learn from.”
The best teams have had their quarterbacks for quite a long time. Not the Steelers. Already, Browns sack master Myles Garrett says Rodgers — kiddingly, we think — is next to be buried in his front yard at Halloween. He does that, with tombstones, to every quarterback he crushes. “I think it's a good opportunity to put him in the graveyard,” said Garrett, grinning.
The Jets also look forward to meeting him. Rodgers will return to MetLife Stadium to meet Fields in Week 1. Said defensive end Jermaine Johnson: “Obviously, I'm excited, he's excited. It was a pleasure having him around and stuff like that and I wish him the best, but when I get between those lines, there's no friends. I think he knows that, and he feels the same stuff. I'm excited. It's just another game, but for me it's going to be my first game back. There will be a lot of emotions and, when my emotions are high, I tend to play pretty well.”
Everyone responds to Rodgers. He hopes his locker room is positive. “I just want to be a servant leader here and just pass on the knowledge that I've had for 20 years, the experience and just try and fit in with the guys, get to know 'em, let them get to know me and just enjoy the process,” he said. “This is — everything's new. 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 the jerseys here. They don't have names on the doors in the meeting rooms. I literally walk out of the locker room, lost, try and grab somebody, ‘Hey, where am I going?’ But I'll get the feel of it and I'm excited about making this home.”
America is hitched to Rodgers’ psyche, for better or worse. He will not leave the Super Bowl alone. “It would mean the seventh championship for the city. Right?” he said. “I have a lot that motivates me, but this is about the love of the game. The game has given me so much over the years, and I’m making peace with a nice, long career.”
Peace is more than he had with Danica Patrick, who recently said “the most amount of pain” she ever experienced was in her breakup with Rodgers in 2020. Because it was sudden, it felt like, it was my life. So like when you live with somebody, it’s your whole life. And because the nature of the relationship was emotionally abusive, so that wore me down to nothing.”
He needs tranquility. He needs an 11-6 record and a playoff berth. Will it happen?
We are watching. Only because we wonder what possibly is next.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.