From route cues to toilet flushing, Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf are getting to know each other quickly at Steelers camp

Yahoo

3 days ago

LATROBE, Pa. — DK Metcalf was setting up a PlayStation in his training camp dorm room on Tuesday when he heard the knock.
The Pittsburgh Steelers receiver headed to open his bedroom door, figuring he had his own quarters at the Steelers' Saint Vincent College outpost. Instead, the bathroom door opened … and in walked Aaron Rodgers.
'He popped out of the corner,' Metcalf said.
[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season]
The pair of Steelers' star offseason acquisitions are eager to build chemistry and establish rapport. And head coach Mike Tomlin has given them another route to strengthen their communication: by sharing a bathroom for the next month.
Rodgers leaned into that communication early when he realized the flushing mechanism on their shared toilet was, well, not quiet.
'The toilet is super loud,' Metcalf told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. 'So he was like, 'Yeah, at night, if we got to piss, just don't flush the toilet.' I was like, 'All right, bet.''
The nightly urge indeed overcame Metcalf around 9:30 Wednesday night so the receiver texted his quarterback to ask: 'You asleep yet?'
Rodgers confirmed he was awake.
'All right, bet,' Metcalf texted back, 'I'm about to flush the toilet.'
And flush he did.
The Steelers hope that Rodgers and Metcalf's rapport will grow not just in their daily routines but also into a consistent problem for defenses. Pittsburgh looks to Rodgers and Metcalf as part of the recipe to winning a playoff game for the first time in nine years and a Super Bowl for the first in 17.
Rodgers believes the bonding in the lunchroom and at snack time, in hot afternoon practices and meetings, are key to taking them all the way.
'Most of the 32 teams would probably say something to that accord at this time of the year, but I think there's really only six to eight that have a legitimate chance,' Rodgers said. 'Sometimes it's 10 to 12, and there's teams that surprise you.
'I would say on paper, we're probably one of those 10 to 12.'
Even on interception, Rodgers and Metcalf learning
During the first throw of team drills in Wednesday's inaugural practice, the Steelers' defense looked more ready to jump off paper than its offense.
Metcalf lined up to Rodgers' left alongside running back Jaylen Warren, raising the antennae of linebacker Patrick Queen. But Rodgers wanted to test Metcalf one-on-one on the hitch against a Cover 3 defense. So the quarterback threw it — and Queen intercepted it.
Steelers defenders and fans erupted, a splash play landing earlier in camp practice than perhaps expected.
Rodgers, entering Year 21, wasn't fazed.
'It's good to get that out of the way,' he said. 'Anybody that's watched me practice over the years, you like to try certain throws at certain times. And anybody that's watched me in games knows I've been pretty stellar taking care of the football over the years.
'I'm going to try to fit certain things in. You got to deal with some sweat on the ball from time to time, so it's going to be a good challenge.
'I'm going to throw some picks. But I'm going to throw some touchdowns, too.'
[Get more Steelers news: Pittsburgh team feed]
During his NFL career, Rodgers hasn't just thrown some touchdowns, but a full 503 regular-season touchdowns and 45 more in the playoffs.
Rodgers joined the Steelers this offseason, a true free agent for the first time, boasting four MVPs to his name and a Super Bowl title. He's advanced to the postseason 12 times since the Packers drafted him in 2005, and he's won a playoff game in seven different years.
That breadth and depth of knowledge showed in the Steelers' first walkthrough, when the veteran quarterback was already diagnosing Pittsburgh's defensive looks despite not officially reaching a deal with the club until June 5.
'He was like, 'Oh, they're going to rotate down this. We're going to rotate down there,'' safety DeShon Elliott told Yahoo Sports. 'We're just like, 'All right, bro. Whatever. Bet. You know our defense, f*** it.'
'He's seen so much football.'
What Rodgers has seen has not sent him into autopilot nor bred complacency, coaches and teammates say. Elliott said Rodgers scans safeties longer presnap than any quarterback he's faced in seven years, while rookie quarterback Will Howard says Rodgers questions just about every element of meetings to ensure he understands a play's intent.
Why audible to this play rather than that? Why not change the quarterback's footwork on this run scheme, and open up like that on a jet motion?
'Just constantly as we're going through the install, 'Hey, on this one, why are we canning this one to this?'' Howard told Yahoo Sports. 'Constantly inquisitive and it's not necessarily a shot at anyone, it's not an ego thing at all with him. He's just curious.
'He just genuinely wants to know.'
That excites offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who began tailoring elements of his offense to Rodgers in mid-March, conversing with the quarterback multiple times before Rodgers officially signed in June after organizing matters in his personal life.
Smith sees a quarterback with plenty left in the tank at age 41, in mind and in body.
'He's not a rigid thinker and neither am I so, that makes it easier when you're having those conversations [on] how you want to adapt,' Smith told Yahoo Sports. 'When you watch him at the end of last year when he got healthy, he still throws the football [well].
'He still moves around pretty good.'
Thanks to Rodgers, Steelers' offseason moves speak to 2025 horizon first
Rodgers doesn't arrive to the Steelers coming off the best year of his two-decade career, but he doesn't arrive far from it.
It was just in 2020 when Rodgers scorched the NFL to the tune of 48 touchdowns to just five interceptions, completing a whopping 70.7% of pass attempts. He won MVP honors with a league-best 121.5 passer rating that season and again the next year with a league-best 111.9. Even so, the Packers traded Rodgers to the Jets before the 2023 season — and the star's high-profile move from Green Bay to New York fell short of its lofty dreams.
Rodgers tore his Achilles four plays into his Jets debut in 2023. Then, even at 40 years old, he rebounded to play all 17 games in 2024 despite league wisdom that players typically won't return to their peak until 18 to 24 months post-tear.
Rodgers completed 63% of his passes for 3,897 yards, 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions last season as the 5-12 Jets spiraled, firing their head coach and general manager midseason. The franchise did not want Rodgers back under new head coach Aaron Glenn and new general manager Darren Mougey. Rodgers sought a more stable and win-now operation for what he has said is likely the final season of his career.
The Steelers met the bill.
If the Steelers fall short this season, they will not fall short for lack of roster-building effort. A normally quiet-in-the-offseason club upgraded to Rodgers at quarterback and traded for Metcalf before dealing its 2024 leading receiver, George Pickens. The Steelers also acquired Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith, albeit at the cost of three-time All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Extensions included a record-setting contract for edge rusher T.J. Watt and a secondary-stabilizing extension for Elliott.
The Steelers prioritized players who could contribute immediately while not fully sacrificing their future. And they did it in large part because they know their Rodgers window could close by January or February.
The shakeup is no guarantee. But players are buying in.
'I think we're going to shock a lot of people,' Metcalf said. 'I know there are questions about, 'Can we figure it all out?' I mean, we're at a destination [for training camp], so we have no choice but to learn each other, figure each other out. We have no choice but to get better on offense versus defense every day.'
And no choice, it turns out, but to learn each other's toilet preferences and communicate accordingly.
'Hell, yeah, you got to,' Metcalf said. 'That toilet is loud. If somebody's asleep, it's gonna wake them up.'