PITTSBURGH —After Mike Tomlin abruptly stepped down in January, Aaron Rodgers approached Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan and suggested he give Mike McCarthy a call “for an outside perspective” during the team’s head coaching search.
“Not thinking that he even would, honestly, just because of the way the league goes,” Rodgers said after Wednesday’s OTA practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “But then when it became more serious, I was thinking, ‘Wow, that would be a really interesting thought to come back and play with Mike.'”
Months later, after plenty of conversations, a lot of time mulling it over and, of course, a stop for ice cream, Rodgers showed up on Monday, hopping into the proverbial passenger’s seat and joining McCarthy, with whom he worked alongside with the Green Bay Packers from 2006-19.
The gravity of walking back onto the field together wasn’t lost on McCarthy, and Rodgers also soaked in the the nostalgia of reuniting with his old head coach.
“It was surreal, honestly, sitting in the meeting — the first 8 a.m. meeting on Monday,” Rodgers said. “It took me back to being a 22-year-old kid sitting in Green Bay listening to Mike’s first meeting in 2006. It’s fun. It’s like ‘pinch me’ moments have been happening the last few days.”
After last month’s draft, Rodgers finally made up his mind. McCarthy said the reception to Rodgers stepping back into the Steelers’ facility on Monday “speaks for itself and speaks volumes of what he’s established just in a short time” in Pittsburgh.
“I wasn’t under contract, so I could take as much time as I wanted to,” Rodgers said. “But I was honest with Mike and Omar and Mr. Rooney from the start (with) where I was at and what I was thinking, and after I saw the moves and felt like my body was in a good place to make a decision, I felt like it was the right decision to come back.”
Rodgers made sure to show up this week because he wanted to familiarize himself with some of the changes to McCarthy’s offense. Rodgers had been in town since early this month after being spotted getting a cold treat in North Park last weekend.
Rodgers turns 43 in December and is the oldest active player in the NFL. Obviously, McCarthy believes the four-time Associated Press NFL MVP still has it.
“He still throws it,” McCarthy said. “He can throw it with anybody. He made sure we all saw that in the first practice Monday. … He’s moving. But this is his first practice, too, so he’s knocking the cobwebs off.
“There’s terminology, so you have to stop and think before you call it, and just kinda file and categorize calls.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Aaron Rodgers, Mike McCarthy Steelers Reunion Sprinkled with Nostalgia
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