Steelers' Heyward clarifies stance on Rodgers

PITTSBURGH -- A week after seemingly less-than-enthusiastic comments about the prospect of quarterback Aaron Rodgers coming to Pittsburgh, Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward clarified his stance on the four-time MVP.

"It was misconstrued," Heyward said on NFL Network's "Good Morning Football" on Wednesday morning. "I was asked a question, 'Would you go to the lengths of going to 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 it was. It wasn't that I don't like Aaron Rodgers or I'm against it.

"When I look at our team right now, it would be really cool to have a guy like Aaron Rodgers. But I can't be the guy who gets it over the finish line. He's got to make those decisions for himself. I'm excited to see what happens."

On his podcast, "Not Just Football," Heyward had responded with disdain to a question from co-host Hayden Walsh about joining Rodgers on a darkness retreat to recruit him.

"I ain't doing that darkness retreat," Heyward said March 18. "I don't need any of that crap. 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 the recruiting pitch. Pittsburgh Steelers. If you want to be part of it, so be it. If you don't, no skin off my back."

The tone appeared to be a shift from Heyward's all-out efforts to land Russell Wilson before the 2024 season when the defensive lineman spent more than an hour on FaceTime with Wilson to recruit him to Pittsburgh. Though Heyward said Wednesday it would be "cool" to have Rodgers join the Steelers, he acknowledged that he hasn't had a conversation with the 41-year-old quarterback. The two also didn't talk when Rodgers visited the Steelers' facility Friday.

"I have not had any communication with him," Heyward said. "I was with some strength coaches that day he was in the building. I think they were trying to get everybody out of the building so they could have a conversation with him.

"What I would say to him, 'If you come to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the goal is to win. We haven't had the success we want, but the goal is still in mind to raise the Lombardi and bring the seventh one to Pittsburgh. We don't really care about the glitz and glam of New York, but the focus is on good, hard football, competing every day, challenging each other,' and we've gotta go from there."

The Steelers have been waiting on a decision from Rodgers for more than two weeks, but the quarterback doesn't appear to be in any hurry to make one even as his potential landing spots dwindle. Wilson, who spent last year with the Steelers, 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 closed the door on that possibility.

Still, Rodgers is operating on his own timeline. Heyward declined to give a specific deadline of when he'd like to know Rodgers' decision but said Wednesday 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've got to make. When you look at that decision, you'd like it to be done by the draft. But if it's not, hopefully it's done before the season, that's all I care about. We can have a lot of things in play. You want to get to know your team, wide receivers, bringing over DK Metcalf, George Pickens, Pat Freiermuth, Connor Heyward, Jaylen Warren, all these different guys. You put them together, any quarterback's going to want to create a relationship and a bond there."