When Aaron Rodgers arrived for Steelers training camp, he had a friendly face ready, willing and eager to greet him and assist him with moving into Saint Vincent College.
It was DK Metcalf, who might be the world's most athletic bellhop.
"He's my roommate again, which I was excited about," Rodgers said with a grin Tuesday. "He helped me unload my stuff, so I'd say we're in a real good place as far as our friendship."
Rodgers pulled out all the stops this offseason for Metcalf and several other teammates, so now Metcalf is doing the same for his quarterback. Those two are fresh off a team-bonding trip to a ranch out west, where they all spent time talking a little bit about football but a lot about life.
The more they learned about each other, the more they realized how little they know. Rodgers spent plenty of time with Metcalf away from the team facility last season, but came away with a better understanding of his leading returning receiver in four days than he had in the preceding months, which is exactly what he was hoping their retreat would provide.
"I tried to be as honest and open as possible about my own life and background and struggles and frustration," Rodgers said. "A lot of guys opened up and shared some really personal stuff.
"Before, we were friends. But now I just feel like that word has a different meaning to it."
Now that those cards are on the table, the groundwork is complete to move into this portion of a new season. For Rodgers, he expects this will be his final training camp, preceding his final season of professional football, but it didn't feel as "dramatic" to him as he anticipated.
He thought this time last year was his final camp check-in, his final chance to develop a rapport with new teammates and attack practice ahead of the regular season. Instead, Rodgers completed 65.7% of his passes, threw for 3,322 yards and racked up a 24-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Most important, he felt good after a 17-game season, including the playoffs.
"The arm has never been an issue, really, in all my 20-plus years playing," Rodgers said. "And before that, I never really had any arm issues. … It's just the legs. I did my usual, spent a lot of time with my body work folks, trying to lengthen muscles and open things up and feel better."
From the sounds of it, Rodgers will need his legs even more this year. He expressed a desire to be under center more this season with a new coaching staff, including plenty of play-action as well as movement.
Over the course of his Hall of Fame-caliber career, Rodgers is on record as becoming far more amenable to motion pre-snap and at the snap. He's not just content to sit back, catch the snap and survey the field, but would rather keep defenses honest.
"It starts under center," Rodgers said. "Some of the best offenses in the league are not too shotgun-happy. Obviously, on third down you're going to be in shotgun, but the more you can be under center on first and second down, I think, is really important to being efficient on those downs, as well."
Rodgers isn't entirely sure how the rhythms of training camp will take shape, starting Wednesday morning, but he was impressed by how "crisp" and "fast" practice flowed in the spring. It dawned on Rodgers recently that he's now the same age Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy was when they first worked together back in 2006.
McCarthy was a 42-year-old first-year head coach. Rodgers is now a 42-year-old last-year quarterback. That's not bad for a full-circle moment, if you're into those sorts of things. Rodgers certainly is as he embarks on what he reiterated will be his last ride, and McCarthy feels the same.
"It's special," McCarthy said. "There's no doubt about it. Trust me, that's not lost on me. Every day, I think it's super cool that I get to line up with him one more time."
