Rodgers brushes off revenge narrative before facing Jets

PITTSBURGH (AP) — If Aaron Rodgers is looking to gain a measure of revenge against the New York Jets a few months after being cut for the first time in his professional life, he's keeping it to himself.

Yes, Rodgers is looking forward to Sunday's trip to MetLife Stadium with the rest of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but only because it marks the start of his 21st and perhaps final season.

And that's it. Publicly anyway.

Rodgers brushed aside the idea that he has something to prove to the New York front office and first-year head coach Aaron Glenn after the Jets opted to move on from the 41-year-old over the winter following two injury-filled and at times tumultuous seasons.

While Rodgers name-checked more than a half dozen former teammates on Wednesday — including cornerback Sauce Gardner and running back Michael Carter — he stopped short when asked if he's kept in touch with them since Glenn and recently hired Jets general manager Darren Mougey told the four-time MVP in early February that New York was not going to bring him back.

“I’m not going to tell you that,” Rodgers said.

Or, much of anything else about whatever significance an inspired bit of scheduling by the NFL might hold.

The closest anyone came to pulling back the curtain is Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf, who said Rodgers has a “bad taste in his mouth from previous years” and wants to go out and win as many games as he can.

That didn't happen nearly enough for all involved during his time with the Jets, where Rodgers missed all but a handful of snaps of the 2023 season because of a torn left Achilles, then was part of a 5-12 slog last fall that saw the organization fire head coach Robert Saleh.

The season ended with Rodgers saying he needed a mental break before deciding whether to return in 2025. The Jets' new regime wasn't in the mood to wait around, leading to a series of events that ended with Rodgers signing a one-year deal with the Steelers in June.

After taking a few months to help those in his inner circle deal with health problems before agreeing to terms with the Steelers, Rodgers is focusing on the “new new” in Pittsburgh, not a chapter of his career that's now firmly in his rearview mirror.

And he likes what he's seen in Pittsburgh, even though the first snap Rodgers takes from center Zach Frazier on Sunday will be his first in live game action since throwing four touchdowns while leading the Jets to an upset win over Miami on the final day of the 2024 season.

A lot has happened off the field since then. Amid all of the change, however, Rodgers is confident it will not take long for him or the rest of Pittsburgh's offense to get into a rhythm.

“I’ve been playing 20 years, so I know how to execute in the game situation,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers is hardly the only new addition to Pittsburgh's offense, which revamped its skill position group by trading for Metcalf and tight end Jonnu Smith and selecting former Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson in the third round of the draft.

There's going to be a lot of new for Rodgers in New York. And he expects the usual mixture of butterflies and excitement that have long been a part of this time of year to show up sometime before the opening coin toss.

“You have to have some (sense of anticipation),” Rodgers said. “I'll speak for myself. I have to have something, otherwise I’m probably in the wrong profession. So I’ll definitely be excited come Sunday.”

To play. The fact that it happens to be against the Jets appears to be merely incidental. He called his time so far with the Steelers “really special," then heaped praise not only on coach Mike Tomlin but everyone from the trainers to the equipment staff.

“There's a lot of cool people that make this thing go,” he said.

Including some of the guys he will share the field with in New York.

Rodgers called Pittsburgh's group of tight ends — Smith, Pat Freiermuth, Connor Heyward and 6-foot-7 Darnell Washington — the best he's been around in his two decades in the league, including his lengthy run in Green Bay.

“(It's) just the depth that we have here with four guys who you feel great about having on the field at any time,” Rodgers said. “And they all have different skills that they bring to the table.”

The massive Washington, perhaps most of all. Rodgers allowed he'd heard the speculation that Washington could one day move to offensive tackle. Lobbing passes to Washington in the end zone during practice last week, Rodgers firmly came down on the “how about he stays where he is" part of the debate.

“I was just thinking to myself, ‘He’s definitely in the (right) position because he’s so big and so athletic,’” Rodgers said. “For a man of that size to be that skilled in the passing game is pretty impressive, not to mention what he does on the line of scrimmage.”

Washington, now in his third year, is a bit of an enigma. So to is Rodgers, at least in terms of what he might still be capable of a few months shy of his 42nd birthday. There's a lot at stake, both for Rodgers and the team he plays for.

He's ready to get going because it's a chance to get going. And that's it.

“It’s all frame of mind, it’s all perspective,” he said. “(I'm) just excited for Week 1.”

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