Aaron Rodgers opens up to the main reason he decided to sign with the Steelers

This past offseason the Pittsburgh Steelers and Aaron Rodgers had a lengthy courting period before Rodgers decided to finally sign with the organization prior to Mandatory Minicamp. Since then, Rodgers has been a model teammate, and has spoken glowingly about every facet of the Pittsburgh Steelers organization.

But there is one person in particular who is the main reason why Rodgers didn’t just choose to play in 2025, but who he wanted to play for.

Rodgers recently joined Adam Schein of SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio and spoke about the one individual who was the main reason why he decided to join the Steelers.

That person was none other than head coach Mike Tomlin.

“He’s a terrific coach.” said Rodgers. “As far as it goes with me, being an older player, having played a long time, I just, right off the bat, really appreciated the respect that he showed me. And then his ability to remember things, I think that’s an important part. There’s a reason that ‘silent’ and ‘listen’ have the exact same letters in it. And I never once felt like I was getting coach talked. … Never once in our conversations, beginning of March, did I ever feel like he was pushing me for something. In fact, it was the opposite. He was just interested in how I was doing and how my people were doing, who were going through some of the stuff they were going through. He remembered names and important things. And I just, it was like talking to a friend, and that’s what I needed at that point in March and April and May.”

As stated earlier, it was Tomlin who was the main draw to the Steelers, but the team’s rich history of success was a close second.

“The biggest selling point for me was him. Obviously I knew there’s a few great organizations in the NFL that are that way because of the history. Just like you can’t write the history of the NFL without the ‘60s Packers and the ‘70s Steelers and the ‘80s Cowboys, and the ‘90s Green Bay Packers, I would say. I mean, then the Niners in there as well. But there’s those special franchises and it’s fun to be a part of a team that has such great history of excellence.”

With Rodgers now with a new team, it also means he has to learn yet another offense. His relationship with Arthur Smith is one which is growing by the day, with the hope of a dominant offense about to be unleashed in 2025.

“I think personality wise, he is somebody who I’d be friends with if we didn’t have the football connection. Just his sarcasm, his sense of humor, the way that he talks to people and his general personality, just somebody I’d be friends with if we didn’t have football. … Even though, you know, our time together is gonna be truncated, I feel like Art and I are gonna be friends long after this ends. And that’s an important part of it because there’s gotta be a trust, there’s gotta be a feel. And we’ve been spending a lot of time together this month just talking ball and talking situations and I’m really excited about working together.”

For some people in the mainstream media, they believe the Steelers are going to underachieve in 2025. Even though they might have the defense to contend, a 41, about to be 42, year old Rodgers and a young offense isn’t going to have what it takes. For Rodgers, he doesn’t really care about what those mainstream media talking heads, or the prognosticators, think about the team.

“I don’t really care about any of those prognostications there, Mr. Schein. I feel like the staff that we have on both sides of the ball, the leadership that we have, the organizational structure, gives you a chance for sure. And that’s all we can ask for. I think for, as far as outside narrative’s sake, sometimes it’s easier when there’s low expectations and people are not talking about you, thinking about you. Especially for maybe the fan base and the outside pressure and things, but I don’t worry about what anybody’s saying, what Vegas has our win total at, or any of that nonsense. The most important thing is I feel like we came together as a group in Latrobe, and now can we put it together and then sustain it?

“Every team every year has periods of adversity that they have to overcome and battle and kind of go through it. Like the bison running toward the storm, you gotta kind of run to it and embrace it. And if we can do that, then we’re gonna have a chance to be in the mix. But I think character-wise we have those guys to run toward those storms and to stay strong and stay connected through it.”

Of course Schein asked Rodgers about his future with the team, and what he might be thinking after 2025.

“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, I’ll reassess all that in the end. I signed a one-year contract, so there was nothing in there about playing longer than one year, but we’ll see how it goes. Obviously you’d love to have success and be healthy and, you know, we can start there with health and have some success and enjoy it, you know, make a run. That’d be really special. And then we’ll figure that out come next February.”

Rodgers is saying all the right things, but we’ll see how things go when the rubber meets the road next week when the team kicks off the 2025 regular season with a trip to MetLife Stadium to play the New York Jets. If things go well, not only will Rodgers be in line for more money, but he might also be in line for another year with the team.

Be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for the Jets in Week 1 of the NFL regular season.