LATROBE, Pa. — Quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed his first pass in his first team period Thursday afternoon at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ opening training camp practice.
The only problem? It wasn’t to one of his offensive skill position players.
Instead, linebacker Patrick Queen picked off the opening throw from the four-time MVP, prompting loud “Ooos” from the crowd of a couple of thousand at St. Vincent College.
But to Rodgers, the interception wasn’t a bad omen for his Steelers’ tenure.
“It’s good to get that out the way,” Rodgers said. “Anybody that’s watched me practice over the years, you like to try certain throws at certain times, and anybody that’s watched me in the games knows I’ve been pretty stellar taking care of the football over the years.
“It’s going to be a good challenge for me throwing in this heat every single day. I look forward to it, but I’m going to throw some picks, but I’m going to throw some touchdowns, too.”
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Rodgers didn’t throw any touchdowns in Thursday’s 90-minute practice, but he completed team-period passes to wide receiver Scotty Miller, tight end Darnell Washington and wide receiver DK Metcalf.
Rodgers had one completion to Metcalf on three targets in team periods, but the quarterback wasn’t concerned about the pair’s connection.
“DK and I have worked out in the offseason together, got a good relationship,” Rodgers said. “We talked about a lot of football stuff. We FaceTime, we texted during the offseason after many camps, so we’ve got a good relationship. It’s going to just keep on growing.”
It will also keep growing in the dorms at St. Vincent College, where they are suitemates, thanks to a Mike Tomlin-assigned arrangement.
“I was secretly hoping it wasn’t a big lineman or something,” Rodgers said with a sly grin. “Maybe somebody had cared about their hygiene a little bit. So, when I walked in I saw a standard suitcase. I said, ‘Oh, I think it’s going to be good. This is probably DK.'”
Like Rodgers, Metcalf was surprised they were living so close to each other.
“He knocked on my door, and I thought it was the front door, and it was actually my bathroom door,” Metcalf said. “He was like, ‘Oh man, I was hoping it was you.’ I was like, ‘I did not think I was going to have a roommate, but glad to see you, too.’
“It was a good experience just to see his face and knowing that we could continue conversations outside the meeting room.”
Rodgers isn’t a stranger to staying in dorms on a college campus for training camp after spending 14 seasons at St. Norbert College for the Green Bay Packers’ camp. And though Rodgers is a larger-than-life persona with his football résumé and pop culture presence, Tomlin said that he wasn’t worried about Rodgers fitting into the Steelers’ culture.
“When in Rome, he’s going to be Roman, and it’s our job to teach him how we do things,” Tomlin said after Thursday’s practice. “But not only him, guys like Jalen Ramsey and others, man, we got a lot of new significant players. As a coach, I embrace that challenge of educating them not only about the things that we value but how we go about our business here. They’ve all been really receptive to it.”
The Steelers’ way of doing business shifted this offseason as the team went all-in to overhaul the roster and bring in a number of high-profile acquisitions, including Rodgers, Metcalf and Ramsey. General manager Omar Khan said Wednesday that he was building a team to win the Super Bowl. A day later, Rodgers expressed his confidence in the team Khan assembled.
“I think most of the 32 teams would probably say something to that accord at this time of the year, but I think that there’s really only six to eight that really have a legitimate chance,” Rodgers said. “Sometimes, it’s 10 to 12 and there’s teams that surprise you, but I would say on paper, we’re probably one of those 10 to 12.”
And, he added, turning a paper championship into a real Lombardi Trophy starts with training camp.
“It’s coming together, times like this with these 17 or so practices that we have here and finding the chemistry and hanging out with each other … growing together through our practice,” he said. “Mike wants to practice at the hottest time of the day, which is interesting, but I love it just because it’s a stressor. We see how guys respond to adversity.”
