Steelers say Aaron Rodgers situation won’t affect draft strategy

PITTSBURGH — With less than two days until the Steelers are scheduled to be on the clock with the No. 21 NFL draft pick in Green Bay, coach Mike Tomlin remained firm that Aaron Rodgers will not impact the Steelers’ draft approach.

“It does not,” he said when asked about the Rodgers situation affecting the team’s strategy in a news conference Tuesday.

The outcome of the three-day draft, however, could factor into the team’s pursuit of the four-time MVP.

“I think what you do in the draft oftentimes affects maybe some talent acquisition that happens after,” Tomlin said. “We’ll see how the acquisition goes this weekend.”

Tomlin reiterated that the team doesn’t have a hard deadline by which they’d like a decision from Rodgers.

At the NFL’s annual meeting earlier this month, Tomlin said training camp was a “line of demarcation,” but Tuesday he clarified that those comments weren’t in reference to acquiring any one player.

“I don’t know that I meant that specifically for him or the circumstance,” he said. “I’m just saying in general, when you report to training camp man, it’s a line of demarcation for development of a group individually and collectively.”

Tomlin also said he “hadn’t pondered” whether he would be comfortable with Rodgers missing OTAs or minicamp.

Rodgers said in an April 17 appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” that he was transparent with the Steelers — and all teams interested in services — about his indefinite timeline as he works through off-the-field matters.

“This entire time I haven’t felt like I owe anyone a decision at any point,” Rodgers said. “This is my life now. … I’ve been up-front with them about that. If you need to move on, if you need to do something, by all means.

“… I don’t think it’s fair to the Steelers or anyone while I’m dealing with a lot off the field. I want to keep the lines of communication open. The people who need to know, know.”

The Steelers enter the 2025 draft with only two quarterbacks on the roster in Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson, and general manager Omar Khan reiterated his message from the annual league meeting that the Steelers plan to go to training camp with their usual four signal-callers, and “all options are on the table” to add the two additional players.

Those options could include drafting a quarterback. The Steelers hosted four in predraft 30 visits: Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart, Louisville’s Tyler Shough and Syracuse’s Kyle McCord.

Though Tomlin said he had a longstanding relationship with Sanders’ father Deion Sanders, he said the April 10 predraft visit was his first time meeting Shedeur.

“To be quite honest with you, we didn’t talk a whole lot about my relationship with his father,” Tomlin said. “It was a normal predraft visit to spend time with a young man, to talk ball, to get to know him as an individual, to get to see how he processes and sees the game and how he articulates his football experience. From that standpoint, it was a very normal visit and a very productive one.”

To Tomlin, the biggest takeaways from his in-person meeting with the Colorado alum were the intangible qualities.

“The things that stood out were evident in the video,” Tomlin said. “There’s a toughness there that doesn’t get talked about enough. There’s a competitive spirit there that doesn’t get talked about enough. I know he is very talented, and it’s made a lot of plays for university and his team, but the intangible qualities displayed on tape were impressive to me.”

In addition to doing their homework on 2025 quarterbacks, the Steelers also hosted nine running backs and nine defensive linemen in their predraft visits.

“I think that’s a credit to how deep maybe those positions are,” Khan said. “And for us it’s important get to know those guys as much as possible and really sort out how we would stack those guys and take those guys.”

Though there’s good value in this year’s group of running backs, Tomlin said he believes Jaylen Warren can be the team’s top running back after the departure of 2021 first-round pick Najee Harris in free agency to the Los Angeles Chargers.

“I certainly feel comfortable with his ability to do so,” Tomlin said of Warren. “He got hampered by injury some in 2024. He appears to be ready to answer that. I know he’s really excited about his opportunity. I don’t think myself or anyone within the question his talents in regards to managing the ability to manage potentially that role.”

The Steelers currently have six picks in this week’s draft, and they lack a second-round selection after they used this year’s No. 52 pick as part of the trade package to land wide receiver DK Metcalf from the Seattle Seahawks.

Khan shut down speculation that the team could trade wide receiver George Pickens, who is eligible for a contract extension this summer, to reacquire a spot in the second round.

“We’re glad we have George and DK here,” Khan said. “I think they’re going to be exciting for everyone to watch.”