PITTSBURGH -- Still unsigned more than 80 days since the official start to free agency, Aaron Rodgers isn't a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And as a free agent, he isn't beholden to any team to attend its offseason training program.
Even if he was a Steeler, which team brass remain optimistic Rodgers will eventually become, he still wouldn't be required to attend any portion of the team's voluntary organized team activities, which entered their second week Tuesday.
Steelers decision-makers view Rodgers as a plug-and-play quarterback capable of a seamless transition, but in missing an opportunity to learn the offense and build chemistry with new teammates at OTAs -- and potentially next week's mandatory minicamp -- Rodgers and the Steelers are needlessly turning up the pressure on a team and an offense that's already going to be one of the most scrutinized of the 2025 NFL season.
Without Rodgers -- or another veteran quarterback -- on the roster, the Steelers have three quarterbacks going through drills at OTAs: Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson and sixth-round pick Will Howard. General manager Omar Khan has continually made it clear the team intends to carry four quarterbacks into training camp, leaving one spot up for grabs.
Asked if there was a point in the offseason when having an incomplete quarterback room would hinder team development, coach Mike Tomlin downplayed the importance of OTAs.
"In the spring, it's about teaching and learning and getting familiar with players and making sure they're getting familiar with some of the things that we value," Tomlin said from the NFL's annual league meeting in Palm Beach. "It's not an evaluation time of the year for us. It's certainly not a time of the year where we're focused on readying ourselves for the game action."
That sentiment is a departure from a year ago, when he put Russell Wilson in "pole position" ahead of spring workouts in an effort to streamline team development.
"It just creates a synergy that I think is good for this time of year," Tomlin said at the 2024 league meeting.
The words and actions of veterans attending Steelers OTAs during the past two weeks seemingly align more with Tomlin's 2024 view of the offseason than the one he expressed two months ago.
"It's very important being able to spend time together, talk about the base stuff of the offense, so when we hit training camp, we can talk about further fundamentals and details," tight end Pat Freiermuth said after the first OTA practice. "So it's very important to be here and work with the guys, get familiar with 'em and just get on the same page."
New Steeler Darius Slay Jr., a 13-year veteran who joined the team after playing for the Philadelphia Eagles for five seasons, missed the first OTA session but was in Pittsburgh the next day and emphasized the importance of attending the voluntary workouts after practice.
"This is where championship football starts," Slay said. "And with me, I just came off of [the] Super Bowl. Everybody got to buy in, and this is the type of time that needs to be bought in. I know guys got families and stuff. I got one as well, but you want to be a champion. Some stuff you've got to sacrifice. And so this is one of the jobs."
Not only is the Steelers' quarterback room still incomplete as the team awaits Rodgers' decision, but recently acquired wide receiver DK Metcalf, who is the Steelers' highest-paid player with his $132 million extension, also hasn't been on the field during the Steelers' first four OTA practices. Metcalf, though, was around frequently during the first two phases of the offseason, teammates said.
"Decent amount," Freiermuth said of how much the team gets into the playbook during OTAs. "Obviously, we're going to install our base stuff and things like that. We want to try and see how it looks against our defense. And it's fun to kind of just be here and talk ball with not a lot of pressure on us and try some new things and see if it works."
For the offensive line, OTAs are an important step in learning about each other and learning how to communicate as a unit. Once one of the youngest units on the team with three rookies starting at different points in the 2024 season, the offensive line reconvened at OTAs further along in building a rapport than they were this time a year ago.
"I feel like just for offensive line play in general, it's so important to have the guys next to you that you play with and build that chemistry," second-year center Zach Frazier said. "So that's really what we're working on now is building that chemistry, because that's the guys you go out there with, the guys you communicate with. It's just chemistry."
Equally as important is the chemistry between the offensive line and the quarterback it's tasked with protecting. While offensive linemen prepare to play with multiple quarterbacks throughout the offseason, not having the chance to get familiar with the idiosyncrasies of a notoriously detailed quarterback is a missed opportunity.
Broderick Jones, who is moving from right tackle to left tackle this season, isn't worried about trying to get on the same page with Rodgers in a condensed amount of time if the future Hall of Fame quarterback does ultimately sign in Pittsburgh.
"It's OK because football is a game of many moving pieces, so you've just got to stay locked in," Jones said. "Being out here around this time is good being with all the different quarterbacks because you get used to their cadences, their tendencies. ... I've never played with [Rodgers]. I don't know what type of person he is. So if push comes to shove, I just got to build that relationship with him or whatnot, but if not, we're still going to have to do what we do with whoever's behind.
"... It is all on him, what type of demeanor he has when he comes in, and what type of fire he has up under him, what he has to prove. So I think that's all it is. If he's really got something that he wants to prove to everybody, I feel like he'll come in and he'll already have that in order, ready to work and get to know everybody. We just got to wait to see."
