A week after expressing less excitement about the idea of quarterback Aaron Rodgers joining Pittsburgh, Steelers defensive leader Cameron Heyward clarified his thoughts on the four-time MVP.
“It was misunderstood,” Heyward said on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on Wednesday morning. “I was asked if I would go as far as joining a darkness retreat to recruit Aaron Rodgers. I said, ‘I’m not doing that. The pitch is, if you want to be a Steeler, be a Steeler.’ That’s all I said. It wasn’t that I don’t like Aaron Rodgers or that I’m against it.
“When I look at our team now, it would be really great to have a player like Aaron Rodgers. But I can’t be the one who convinces him. He has to make that decision on his own. I’m excited to see what happens.”
On his podcast, “Not Just Football,” Heyward had reacted negatively to a question from co-host Hayden Walsh about joining Rodgers on a darkness retreat to try to recruit him.
“I ain’t doing that darkness retreat,” Heyward said on March 18. “I don’t need any of that. Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler, or you don’t. It’s that simple. That’s the pitch. If you want me to recruit, that’s my pitch. Pittsburgh Steelers. If you want to be part of it, then great. If you don’t, it’s no problem.”
The tone seemed different from Heyward’s strong efforts to land Russell Wilson before the 2024 season when the defensive lineman spent over an hour on FaceTime with Wilson to try to get him to join Pittsburgh.
Though Heyward said on Wednesday that it would be “cool” to have Rodgers on the team, he admitted that he hasn’t spoken with the 41-year-old quarterback.
Cameron Heyward (NFL)The two also didn’t talk when Rodgers visited the Steelers’ facility on Friday
“I haven’t talked to him,” Heyward said. “I was with some strength coaches the day he was in the building. I think they were trying to clear the building to talk to him.”
“What I would say to him is, ‘If you come to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the goal is to win. We haven’t had the success we want, but our goal is still to win the Lombardi and bring the seventh one to Pittsburgh.
We don’t care about the fame and lights of New York, but we focus on tough, hard football, competing every day, challenging each other,'” he continued. “We just need to go from there.”
The Steelers have been waiting for Rodgers to make a decision for over two weeks, but it seems the quarterback is in no rush to decide, even as his potential teams become fewer.
Wilson, who played with the Steelers last season, agreed to a one-year deal with the New York Giants on Tuesday night. Rodgers had an offer from the Giants, but Wilson’s deal made that option unavailable.
Still, Rodgers is following his own schedule. Heyward didn’t give a specific deadline for when he’d like to know Rodgers’ decision but said Wednesday that he “hopes” it will be done “sooner, rather than later.”
“I feel like I’m not [coach] Mike T [Tomlin] or [general manager] Omar Khan,” Heyward said. “That’s a decision they need to make. When you look at that decision, you’d want it done by the draft. But if not, hopefully before the season, that’s all I care about.
We have many things in play. You want to get to know your team, the wide receivers, bringing over DK Metcalf, George Pickens, Pat Freiermuth, Connor Heyward, Jaylen Warren, all these different guys. You bring them together, and any quarterback is going to want to build a relationship and a bond with them.”
