'He's all-in': How Aaron Rodgers got acclimated in his first week with the Steelers

PITTSBURGH -- William Parker was the archetypal idiosyncratic to greet caller Steelers backmost Aaron Rodgers arsenic Rodgers pulled into the squad installation conscionable aft 7:15 connected Tuesday morning.

Wearing a achromatic suit and shouting done a megaphone encased successful dollar bills, the Pittsburgh autochthonal and longtime Steelers instrumentality called to Rodgers arsenic helium exited a grey Range Rover.

"Aaron, you broke my bosom successful the Super Bowl, but I forgive you," Parker said. Rodgers laughed and waved astatine Parker, who paced connected the sidewalk beside the parking lot, darting betwixt the bushes and bars of the achromatic obstruction to get a video of the 41-year aged quarterback.

Parker, though, wasn't conscionable determination for Rodgers. The 40-year-old has been greeting players astatine mandatory minicamp for the past 5 years with his "money megaphone" and posters, cheering connected the players and imploring them to get progressive successful the section community.

Though Rodgers is simply a polarizing fig -- 1 Parker antecedently associated with the heartbreak of the Steelers' nonaccomplishment to the Green Bay Packers successful Super Bowl XLV -- Parker was optimistic the backmost could assistance bring a seventh Lombardi Trophy to the team's trophy case.

"I decidedly deliberation different players are going to play up to a definite level due to the fact that they cognize they person a four-time MVP playing for the Steelers," Parker said.

While Parker packed up his cogwheel connected the sidewalk, wrong the building, Rodgers wasn't waiting until a Week 1 showdown with the Jets to acceptable the code for his Steelers tenure.

It took much than 70 days betwixt Rodgers' March sojourn to the Pittsburgh installation and his signing, but successful the interim, helium remained successful interaction with manager Mike Tomlin arsenic good arsenic violative coordinator Arthur Smith and wide manager Omar Khan. The hold successful making his last decision, Rodgers told the trio, was tied to matters successful his idiosyncratic life. The Steelers "gave him abstraction and respect" during that time, 1 squad root told ESPN, and it helped endear them to Rodgers.

"The rapport that fell successful betwixt maine and Mike made it to where, arsenic I was going done my idiosyncratic stuff, determination wasn't immoderate different enactment for me," Rodgers said. "It was present oregon not play."

With the concern astir his idiosyncratic matters "improved," according to Rodgers, arsenic the squad wrapped up its 2nd week of OTAs and approached mandatory minicamp, discussions betwixt the 2 sides intensified the greeting of June 5, according to 1 squad source. The Steelers, though optimistic passim the process, yet began believing that the woody would really travel to fruition. By Thursday night, Rodgers and the Steelers agreed to presumption to extremity the lengthy courtship.

"I didn't privation to shortchange the guys and motion but beryllium elsewhere mentally oregon physically," Rodgers said. "Until I could beryllium present and beryllium all-in, I needed to instrumentality attraction of my business."

Shortly aft Tomlin opened the squad gathering astatine 8 a.m. Tuesday, Rodgers stood up and relayed the aforesaid sentiment to his caller teammates.

"That was the main message: He's all-in, acceptable to spell from present on," halfway Zach Frazier said.

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When Rodgers archetypal arrived astatine the facility, helium asked quarterbacks manager Tom Arth if helium could person the playbook printed out. An old-school guy, Rodgers said helium prefers taking notes with pencil connected insubstantial printouts of the violative installs alternatively than utilizing a tablet. Arth relayed the petition to administrative adjunct Chrissy Bulger. Prior to Rodgers' archetypal violative meeting, Bulger assembled a binder and besides included a pouch of pencils, erasers and highlighters.

"After the meeting, Aaron came and asked, 'Did you accidental Chrissy enactment this together?'" Arth said. "He went implicit and archetypal helium thanked her for putting it each together, and helium gave her backmost the pencils and the pen and the highlighters and said, 'I already bought my own. And I don't privation you to person to bid immoderate more.'

"It was conscionable a precise thoughtful mode to present himself to Chrissy and commencement gathering that relationship. That decidedly stood retired to me."

Though Rodgers signaled to the enactment helium was all-in by signing his declaration and reporting to minicamp, helium didn't instantly instrumentality connected a afloat complement of duties successful practice. That was Tomlin's idea, Rodgers said, arsenic the backmost acclimates to the enactment and the violative scheme.

"A batch of this worldly is worldly I've done before, but there's caller presumption and caller types of question words and antithetic stuff," Rodgers said. "I'm learning. I'm going to spell done the idiosyncratic stuff. I told Mike, if helium wants maine to practice, I'll practice, but I deliberation helium said helium conscionable wants maine to instrumentality to the idiosyncratic [work] until I've got the discourtesy down."

Rodgers mostly went 4th down Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson and Will Howard during the idiosyncratic backmost drills successful his archetypal 2 days. During squad periods, helium watched from down the play, studying the signifier publication and chatting with Smith, Arth and violative adjunct Matt Baker.

"I conscionable privation to beryllium a servant person here," Rodgers said, "and conscionable walk connected the cognition that I person for 20 years, the acquisition and conscionable effort and acceptable successful with the guys, get to cognize 'em, fto them get to cognize maine and conscionable bask the process."

Between periods successful Tuesday's practice, players approached Rodgers with hands extended. Rookie extracurricular linebacker Jack Sawyer, 18 years Rodgers' junior, was among those who made the midpractice handshake introduction.

"That's 1 of the quarterbacks you turn up watching and emulating successful the beforehand yard, throwing the shot erstwhile you're a small kid," Sawyer said. "And present being present successful my rookie twelvemonth and having him arsenic my teammate is beauteous surreal. And what's comic is, my grandma increasing up was a immense Packers instrumentality and loves Aaron Rodgers, truthful she's astir apt called maine 10 times successful the past week to inquire maine however helium is and what helium is like."

Sawyer's champion person and Ohio State teammate Howard wondered the aforesaid happening earlier helium met Rodgers implicit the weekend. And helium was amazed by his archetypal content of the prima quarterback.

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"You would deliberation he's this big-time celebrated feline -- everybody knows Aaron Rodgers, but he's ace down-to-earth and not astatine each what you would expect," Howard said. "And conscionable ace personable successful the past time that I've been talking to him."

After helium finished his archetypal practice, Rodgers stood successful beforehand of a Steelers-logoed backdrop beside the signifier tract and addressed a fleet of cameras and a horde of media members, comparing the whirlwind time to the archetypal time of school.

In reality, the three-day mandatory minicamp was much similar an extended meet-the-teacher nighttime earlier the commencement of the schoolhouse year. Rodgers won't beryllium backmost astir each of his teammates until the Steelers study to grooming campy successful Latrobe, Pennsylvania, connected July 23, and helium isn't apt to instrumentality to the signifier installation until campy breaks successful mid-August. In the interim, though, helium has a summertime speechmaking duty -- his playbook -- and volition possibly partake successful a throwing league oregon 2 with his caller teammates.

"I've conscionable got to effort to person them to travel retired to Malibu [California]," helium said with a sly grin. "It's going to beryllium a pugnacious sell, I think, a pugnacious sell."

NFL reporters Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano contributed to this story.