The Steelers have announced the signing of the Aaron Rodgers contract. They posted his superlatives on social media (FYI, he’s very big on the TD-to-interception ratio). And they’ve made the case for what the fans should expect, with a story on the team’s official website tweeted to its 3.7 million followers:
“The Steelers also won’t be asking Rodgers to be the Aaron Rodgers of five or 10 years ago. What they need from him is what Favre provided for the Vikings in 2009, when they came within a game of going to the Super Bowl, and what Brady gave to the Buccaneers. . . .
“The Steelers don’t need him to put on the Superman cape. They don’t need four-time MVP Rodgers. They have enough other stars that nobody needs to be great every game. They just need him to play a solid quarterback.
“It’s a team game, and the addition of Rodgers makes the Steelers a better team. . . .
“The Steelers never want to ‘tank’ on a season, nor should they. They want to build the best roster to compete that they can put on the field.
“That is a commitment that fans should appreciate.”
Yes, the Steelers are suggesting through an article on the website the team owns that their fans should appreciate the addition of Rodgers. That suggestion comes at a time when plenty of Steelers fans are more than a little skeptical about the addition of Rodgers.
Which will make his introductory press conference even more interesting. Per the team, it hasn’t been set yet. Our guess is that it could happen on Monday, or maybe on Tuesday. It could happen in the press room, on the practice field, or in the locker room.
Whenever and wherever it unfolds, the question becomes whether the questions posed to Rodgers will be softballs or tee balls or a little chin music. In New York, the supposedly rough-and-tumble press corps never pressed Rodgers. On anything. He’s possibly a 9/11 truther. He could be a Sandy Hook denier. He rails against pharmaceutical companies, but he went to work for the medical equivalent of the Oh Henry! candy bar heiress.
Beyond whether he’ll be asked about one or more of his various conspiracy theories (like the one where he thinks the COVID vaccine contains nanobots that under a specific frequency come together to form a tracking device) is the simple question of whether a wink-nod deal had been in place for weeks if not months, whether he hopes to bring any of his friends and former teammates to town, and/or why he didn’t take only $10 million for the season — if his contract numbers come in higher than that.
Rodgers also could be asked for his reaction to the sense from more than a few Steelers fans that they just didn’t want him.
We understand that the job of covering one specific team can be delicate. Those who ask tough questions don’t get scoops or access. They might draw complaints from the team. Those complaints might be directed to their bosses. It’s far easier to go along and get along. Very few will roll the dice on their jobs by becoming the resident asshole who pisses off the new quarterback.
Still, there has to be a way to tactfully pose questions to which the fans reasonably want answers. It’s not easy. That doesn’t mean no one should try.
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