While he’s open to playing in the preseason, Aaron Rodgers apparently doesn’t see much value in it. The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ veteran quarterback essentially said as much when he was asked Wednesday about the possibility of playing in any of Pittsburgh’s upcoming preseason games.
“I’m totally on board,” Rodgers said, via 93.7 The Fan. “If [Mike Tomlin] wants me to play, I’ll play. If not, then I won’t. … Preseason football is not necessarily real football, because defenses don’t really do a lot.”
Rodgers is right. While there are some clear benefits to preseason football (like going against someone other than your teammates), there isn’t a lot that can be gained if you’re a player of Rodgers’ caliber. As Rodgers stated, offenses aren’t facing defenses that are game-planning against them, and vice versa.
Really, the preseason at this point is used more to determine position battles as coaches try to get their rosters down to 53 players. It’s not especially significant for established players, but it is very important for bubble players and backups who may not get a lot of live reps when the regular season starts.
Conversely, Rodgers said that Pittsburgh’s upcoming joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be much more beneficial because defenses tend to run their full menu of plays in joint practices as opposed to a preseason game, when game plans are usually more vanilla.
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What should make Pittsburgh’s joint practice with Tampa Bay even more beneficial is the fact Rodgers and Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith will be matching wits with Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles, one of the NFL’s most gifted defensive minds. It should certainly be a good test for a Steelers’ offense that has been facing what DK Metcalf recently said is the “best defense I’ve ever seen” on a daily basis.
“Our defense, obviously we added a lot of pieces to it,” Rodgers said. “Always early in camp, with the pads going, the defense seems to have the edge, and then second week, it starts to turn a little bit. So I feel like we’ve been playing better.”
As far as his status this preseason, Tomlin was non-committal when asked Tuesday if Rodgers or any other starters will play in Pittsburgh’s preseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday night.
“I can’t see past Wednesday at this juncture,” Tomlin said, via PennLive. “At this stage of development, Saturday is a long way away. Seriously, we’re just trying to have good days.”
