Aaron Rodgers signed his contract with the Steelers on June 7th.
Pittsburgh was planning for his arrival weeks in advance.
After months of courtship, a marriage than garnered headlines for the entire offseason was finally consummated to begin the summer.
Now reports are coming out about the process the Steelers went through to acquire the 41-year-old quarterback.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN revealed in a recent article that when the Steelers traded wideout George Pickens to the Cowboys it was to appease Rodgers.
“His maturity issues were well-known within Pittsburgh’s locker room and front office,” Fowler wrote. “So, the Steelers made the evaluation that Pickens and Rodgers probably would not hit it off.”
It’s not a surprising move given Rodgers’ demands and Pickens’ penchant for moments of outrage.
What is surprising is that the Steelers were willing to move their 1,000 yard wide receiver to just get a chance at the former MVP.
There was no guarantee that Rodgers would sign if Pickens was gone, but Pittsburgh took the risk and it paid off. The former Packer signed a one-year, $13.6 million deal with the Steelers.
Now Rodgers will have to prove he can do it with a core wide receiver room of DK Metcalf, Calvin Austin, and Robert Woods.
Pickens will set out to show Pittsburgh they made a mistake in shipping him off for a declining veteran.
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