PITTSBURGH — Nick Herbig wasn’t quite sure what to expect of Aaron Rodgers.
To the 23-year-old, Rodgers was a larger-than-life persona, a main character of the NFL for nearly as long as the edge rusher had been alive.
So when Herbig met Rodgers at Cameron Heyward‘s house the night before the Pittsburgh Steelers’ June minicamp, he hardly expected to be playfully needled by the four-time MVP.
“[Heyward] had a little card game, and [Rodgers] was just cracking jokes the whole time,” said Herbig, adding that Rodgers teased him by calling him a “one-trick pony” for his signature speed rush move. “So I was like, ‘Oh, this dude’s cool.'”
Herbig, the youngest of three boys, was hesitant to return the smack talk in their first meeting, but by training camp, Herbig tapped into his little brother tendencies and dished it right back to the quarterback. Herbig started celebrating big defensive plays by yelling “discount double check” to taunt Rodgers, the onetime State Farm spokesperson, for his famous touchdown celebration.
In teasing each other, the two have developed a quick rapport in the two months since Rodgers officially became a Steeler, but his relationship with Herbig isn’t unique. Since arriving in Pittsburgh on a one-year, $13.65 million deal before that June minicamp, Rodgers has emphasized connections in the Steelers organization, building trust with his teammates through small, yet meaningful interactions in hopes of establishing a firm foundation.
Rodgers’ efforts even won over early detractors. Some of his future teammates questioned his prolonged decision-making process in free agency — like Heyward asserting “either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don’t” on his podcast and DeShon Elliott commenting on an Instagram post that the quarterback should be left in the “retirement home” — but Rodgers has acclimated seamlessly to Pittsburgh’s culture.
“When he got here, we communicated, we talked, he’s a great person and a great football player,” 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.”
In more than two months as a Steeler, Rodgers has passed the first of a series of tests that await him in his third act — tests that will only get harder and potentially strain his newfound relationships once the regular season arrives in 10 days.
Rodgers’ first two decades in the NFL were marked mostly by individual accomplishments but occasionally strained relationships, ones that contributed to the Green Bay Packers’ decision to send him to the New York Jets and for the Jets to release him only two years after his heralded arrival. His obfuscation of his COVID-19 vaccination status and public embrace of darkness retreats and Ayahuasca puzzled some of the fans who once wholeheartedly supported the quarterback.
But so far, Rodgers has woven himself into the fabric of his new organization through meticulous observation and quick wit.
“I’m trying to be intentional every day I’m here,” Rodgers said prior to the team’s third preseason game. “I’m trying to get [center] Zach [Frazier] to loosen up a little bit. [Guard] Mason’s [McCormick] been a great compadre with that because he’s next to him every single day. It’s fun when I get a little laugh out of [guard] Isaac [Seumalo], and maybe a facial expression from [tackle] Troy [Fautanu]. [Tackle] Broderick [Jones] is probably the most gregarious of the group up front. I got a laugh out of [tight end] Darnell [Washington] today, which was fun. Big win. Small victories every day when it comes to the chemistry building stuff.
“… That’s what it’s all about, finding ways to connect with those guys. I have kind of a built-in laugh track because I’m the old guy and I can recycle some old jokes from years past that they haven’t heard before. Just trying to connect with the guys every single day.”
At age 41, two years removed from a season-ending Achilles rupture and having sat out the preseason, Rodgers’ ability to elevate the Steelers offense on the field is still a mystery. But in a game where intangibles can matter just as much as scheme and talent, Rodgers has been everything the Steelers hoped — and needed — him to be as the next veteran leader of a young, pliable offensive core.
“People have said stuff about him, and obviously he’s been bold in some stances that he’s taken,” veteran wide receiver Scotty Miller said. “But I think he has said kind of give him a chance to get to know him before you make any preconceived judgments. We’ve all had that approach, and it’s been great. … He is really just one of the guys.”
DAYS BEFORE RODGERS officially became a Pittsburgh Steeler, safety Quindell Johnson signed a one-year contract with the team.
An undrafted free agent out of Memphis in 2023, Johnson was new to Pittsburgh following brief stints with three teams in two seasons. A young player fighting an uphill battle to earn a roster spot, Johnson was used to being the new guy and took his cues from each team’s longer-tenured players.
That’s why when the Steelers opened minicamp on June 10, Johnson found himself in the third row of a stretching line behind veteran defensive backs Juan Thornhill and James Pierre. But he wasn’t the only player in his line following the pair’s lead. Wearing a white No. 8 Steelers jersey for the first time, Rodgers lunged, skipped and touched his toes behind Johnson. And when players paired off and linked their arms for balance as they swung their legs to stretch their hip flexors and adductors, Johnson found himself side by side with Rodgers.
“I was new, too, so I was kind of falling in line as well, just trying to find somewhere,” said Johnson, who was released in an initial round of roster cuts. “We just ended up being stretch partners. I kind of was just trying to get myself acclimated in the system too.”
As they leaned on each other for balance, the pair chatted about the California wildfires. After being released by the Los Angeles Rams in January, Johnson was in the area when the destructive Palisades Fire ripped through more than 23,000 acres and destroyed thousands of homes between Santa Monica and Malibu, where Rodgers lives. Once the period was over, the pair parted and went on with practice. Since then, Rodgers has spent time stretching with a different teammate in each practice, usually toward the back of a line.
For Rodgers, the stretch period was an opportunity to get to know and connect with his teammates, no matter their position, experience or stature.
“That’s intentional,” Rodgers said. “I like to grab somebody new and just have a quick chat with them. So many times, where I feel like the expectation is that leaders got to be [at] the front of the line, but sometimes to lead properly, you have to serve, and serving sometimes involves being at the back. Sometimes when you’re back, you can get a good view of what’s going on all the time, getting close to the team.”
Evan Hull, a 2023 fifth-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts, was Rodgers’ stretch partner one day during a camp practice in Latrobe, but that wasn’t the first time the pair interacted. They actually met a month and a half earlier at Heyward’s barbecue and charity golf outing. So Rodgers took the time during the stretch to catch up on Hull’s family.
“He asked me how my son’s doing, and I appreciate stuff like that,” said Hull, another early roster cut following training camp. “We don’t talk all the time, but just for him to know and remember things about me in my personal life and bring it up in a conversation, it’s appreciative, but that’s just the kind of guy he is, though. You know what I mean? And he goes the extra mile to learn his teammates.”
That includes practice squad outside linebacker Julius Welschof, a native of Aloetting, Germany, who came to the U.S. to play college football in 2018.
“He calls me his German friend, so when we see each other we always like to chat a little bit,” Welschof said, adding that they talked about their favorite places to visit in Europe. “He’s just trying to get to know everyone on the team, no matter offense, defense, guy from Germany. It is always nice that he interacts with guys like me.”
But not all of Rodgers’ teammates engage in memorable conversations during the stretch line chats. Safety Jalen Ramsey drew a blank when asked what the two chatted about after a practice where they stretched together.
“I don’t know if maybe we had brief conversation or something,” Ramsey said, shaking his head. “I was kind of locked in on my stretch to be honest with you, but I’m sure we may have had a small talk conversation or something.
“… I’ve got a lot of respect for him, seeing how he operates on the field during practices. He’s kind of one of the guys, and at times you wouldn’t expect that from a quarterback. They can kind of be locked into their own zone, but he does make sure that he’s connected with all the guys.”
RODGERS’ RELATIONSHIP BUILDING started in the stretch lines at minicamp, but he didn’t wait until training camp to continue making those connections.
During the month-and-a-half break between formal team gatherings, Rodgers organized a three-day trip for some of his pass catchers to visit him in Malibu. Because he didn’t sign until after OTAs — and didn’t participate in team periods during minicamp — Rodgers missed at least two months of opportunities to build necessary rapport with his receivers. The explicit purpose of the trip was to build chemistry between the quarterback and his new targets on the field, but equally important was the quality time off the field.
“Definitely built trust out there, kind of broke the ice,” wide receiver Ben Skowronek said of the Malibu trip. “We were maybe walking on eggshells a little bit during mandatory minicamp and stuff. But really Malibu, we really got to know each other on a deeper level.
“… It’s real cool just being able to sit down, have dinner, just talk through stuff the way I talk to Calvin [Austin III] and the way I talk to different guys in the room, just being able to talk ball and be friends as well.”
Before he got on the turf with his pass catchers, Rodgers took them to the Proactive Sports Performance gym where Skowronek, a high school basketball state champion in Indiana, surprised Rodgers with a two-handed slam. The group also met Kevin Durant, who gave Skowronek some pointers on his jump shot.
“Him and Aaron are good friends it seems like,” the receiver said, adding that the NBA player joked that he could be an NFL defensive back. “He had some words for me. … That’s one of my favorite basketball players of all time. It was fun talking to him and joking around with him.”
From there, Rodgers treated his new teammates to dinner at Nobu in Malibu, a signature upscale Southern California experience. As the group dined at the scenic oceanfront establishment while the sun set, a pod of dolphins swam by, prompting Austin to ask if the restaurant arranged for them to come through on command.
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“Look, that was my first time seeing dolphins,” Austin said, laughing. “That was second to none.”
For Rodgers, shooting hoops with an NBA MVP and dining at a world-famous Malibu haunt is part of his everyday life as one of the most well-known and successful quarterbacks in the NFL’s modern era. But after several days in Rodgers’ world of exclusivity, the group came away with a deeper appreciation for the quarterback’s normalcy.
“He welcomed us into his house and to his gym that he works out at,” Miller said. “He was just open with us, and he was who he was. He wasn’t trying to be anybody else, and we all just appreciated that. It was a great start to our relationship with him.”
Once they reconvened at training camp, Rodgers continued to grow his connection with his receivers through meticulous on-field direction coupled with video game nights and an “open door policy” for players to drop by his dorm room and discuss the offense.
“I think that’s an important part of it, just letting those guys know that there’s no dictatorship here,” Rodgers said of his policy. “It’s not [offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s] dictatorship or mine. We want to talk about all the issues and all the things you’re seeing, and whether it’s a text message or coming to my room and having a conversation.
“Those are invaluable times to get on the same page with the guys. When I’m out there, I don’t want anything to be left unsaid, so I’d rather hit it on the front end, and if something comes out of the practice, hit on the back end instead of trusting it to get figured out on its own. It’s been a good process for us.”
Rodgers’ relationships with his wide receivers haven’t always been easy, and just a year ago he called out Jets wide receiver Mike Williams in a postgame news conference for not running the route the quarterback anticipated, leading to an interception.
Rodgers’ new receiving corps is aware of the quarterback’s high standards and perfectionist demands, but Miller doesn’t view it as a negative.
“It comes from a good place,” said Miller, who also played with Tom Brady in Tampa Bay. “He’s just trying to get the best out of you, and I think that’s something that I really noticed about him is he just brings the best out of everyone around him.”
HERBIG WAS SURPRISED when Rodgers ribbed him about being a “one-trick pony” for his standout speed rush, partly because he didn’t yet know the quarterback’s sense of humor and partly because he wasn’t sure how Rodgers knew about the move and his reputation.
“I don’t know,” Herbig said. “That’s probably just something that he came up with. I don’t think he read anything about me. I don’t know why he would, I’m a nobody.”
But that’s not how Rodgers approaches the job or his teammates.
For all the hours spent studying his new playbook, Rodgers puts in just as much time studying his new teammates. His approach, he said, is rooted in a line from Ted Lasso: “Be curious, not judgmental.”
“You have to pay attention, and sometimes you have to use some strategies to remember things, because there’s ways of connecting with guys,” Rodgers said, explaining the mantra.
“When he came in, he said, ‘Give me a clean slate, get to know me for me,'” rookie quarterback Will Howard said. “And I wanted to do that. I didn’t want to come in with any expectations of who he was, and just in getting to know him, he’s such a down-to-earth, good guy. He likes to joke around and have fun and mess with the younger guys, but also you can just tell that it’s pure and he loves the game.”
As much as the Steelers’ season hinges on Rodgers’ ability to connect with young players including Howard on the field, it also relies on their relationships to stay intact off it. Though most former teammates speak glowingly of Rodgers and echoed his new Steelers’ teammates sentiment that he’s a down-to-earth, normal guy, poor play frayed some of his relationships in previous organizations.
The next phase of the Steelers’ yearlong Rodgers experiment begins on Sept. 7 at MetLife Stadium when the Steelers fittingly visit Rodgers’ former team.
In being one of the guys, Rodgers could be the guy to engineer the end of the near-decade long drought without a playoff win. Or he could alienate himself from the crew, hijack the train and derail the Steelers shy of their destination once again.
