Quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) rolls out during the first half against the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
As free-agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers continues to mull over his choices for his next team–assuming he still wants to play–one team in the mix has reportedly set a soft deadline regarding when they’d like a decision.
Nick Farabaugh of PennLive.com reports that the Pittsburgh Steelers would prefer an answer by the start of the team’s offseason program on April 21, which is also the start of the offseason program league-wide for teams with a returning head coach.
The soft deadline makes sense. Although the offseason program is voluntary, it’s usually a good time for players who haven’t seen each other since the season’s end to become re-acquainted, meet new faces, and start working on collaborative film study sessions ahead of the spring OTAs and minicamp, when coaches usually install different wrinkles and tweaks to their systems.
Last year with the Jets, Rodgers made it a point to be around the team’s offseason program, but he famously skipped out on the mandatory minicamp due to a pre-planned engagement. Still, he drew criticism from some when then-head coach Robert Saleh revealed that Rodgers’s absence from the mandatory minicamp had not been excused.
The Giants, who are reportedly still in the mix for Rodgers, are willing to wait out his decision and will not let a lack of a decision affect their draft strategy next month.
Still, if the Giants were to land Rodgers or even Russell Wilson, the latter of whom they hosted for a recent visit, that would all but assure that even if they draft a rookie quarterback, there would likely be no rush to play that rookie as the coaches could then develop the young signal caller and rely more ont he veteran to help them get the franchise back in the right direction.
Rodgers has not indicated when he might decide or where he is in his thought process. SI.com’s Albert Breer reported that Rodgers might visit the Giants in the coming days to get a feel for the franchise’s inner workings.
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