Week One of OTAs revealed much for the Steelers, most notably that Aaron Rodgers is still who the Steelers thought he was.
"He can throw with anybody," head coach Mike McCarthy assessed.
McCarthy should know, having served as head coach of the Packers from 2006 into the 2018 season, including from 2008 on with Rodgers as Green Bay's starting quarterback.
Rodgers' arm talent remains obvious.
"He made sure we all saw that in the first practice Monday," McCarthy added.
Another benefit of Rodgers' decision to return for a second season with the Steelers and his 22nd in the NFL is the familiarity with and the command of the offense McCarthy is installing.
"It's endless," McCarthy gushed. "You know football, coaching, you draw plays, you put them on the PowerPoint, you get the video, you teach, you show all the examples but there's a game within the game, especially when you talk about the development of a quarterback," McCarthy explained. "You talk about, 'OK, this coverage you wanna throw the ball here.' That's not really the real stuff. The real stuff is not looking to see what to see what your receivers are doing, you're reading the defense.
"You gotta throw people open. You gotta throw your receivers open in this league. You don't throw to open receivers. To accomplish that, and to have Aaron Rodgers here, that's done it at the highest level for quite some tine, for two decades, he's always done an excellent job of helping not only younger quarterbacks but younger players in the locker room.
"He's a tremendous resource and I would recommend that all of our players spend as much time with him as possible. He has a lot to offer and he's always been really good about sharing with younger players. He's a tremendous asset for us."
The reaction to Rodgers' return has resonated not just with McCarthy but also throughout the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex this week.
"I think clearly what it means, you can see the reaction in the building, first and foremost starting with the players, the locker room, the coaching staff," McCarthy said. "Everybody was extremely excited when the decision became official.
"I think that speaks for itself and speaks volumes of what he's established just in a short time here coming off last season."
That reaction started on Monday, when the McCarthy-Rodgers Head Coach-Quarterback Band officially got back together and started to get back to work together.
"I've been saying it's been surreal since I came here," offered McCarthy, a native of Pittsburgh's Greenfield neighborhood. "We both talked about the moment, walking out on the field together for the first time, it was special."
Second-year quarterback Will Howard has also made an impression.
"He's wired the right way," McCarthy observed. "Our first meetings, just sitting there talking football, and just coaching quarterbacks for a long time, you know the questions to ask and the tempo and the pace, jumping in and out of conversations.
"He has excellent wiring. He's a lot more athletic than I realized in his lower half. He's doing a hell of a job. He's having a really good offseason."
Veteran Mason Rudolph is another quarterback who has gotten McCarthy's attention.
"When you get veteran players, particularly quarterbacks, the old 'can't teach an old dog new tricks,' that's not the case with him," McCarthy said. "He's been very receptive towards the footwork training.
"Boy, he really throws it better than I realized. Until you really stand next to him and you're out there with him, you don't really understand the true velocity of how each one of these guys throws the football. I really like Mason Rudolph."
The Steelers' fourth quarterback is rookie Drew Allar, a third-round pick out of Penn State.
"We definitely have four that we love, I can say that," McCarthy insisted. "You always have to develop the room, that's always been the approach.
"We're hoping (General Manager) Omar (Khan) can get the roster expanded to 55 and we can keep four. It's a really good room. This is a good place to be, having four guys that can play."
