{"id":55731,"date":"2025-06-14T03:00:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T03:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=55731"},"modified":"2025-06-14T03:00:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T03:00:26","slug":"breaking-former-steelers-pro-bowler-delivers-strong-advice-to-qb-aaron-rodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=55731","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Former Steelers Pro Bowler Delivers Strong Advice to QB Aaron Rodgers.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2219174723.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2219174723.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2219174723.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2219174723.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Aaron Rodgers Joe Haden\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"800\" data-dom-ready-time=\"809\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Former Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Bowler Joe Haden delivered strong advice to quarterback Aaron Rodgers.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Although\u00a0Russell Wilson\u00a0made the Pro Bowl roster last season, the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0haven\u2019t really had elite, consistent quarterback play in several years. Although he\u2019s now 41 years old, at his best,\u00a0Aaron Rodgers\u00a0isn\u2019t just Pro Bowl caliber, but MVP caliber.<\/p>\n<p>According to former Steelers Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden, though, the winning formula in Pittsburgh isn\u2019t changing because of Rodgers\u2019 arrival. With that in mind, Haden delivered a simple message to the four-time MVP Thursday while appearing on FanDuel TV\u2019s\u00a0<em>Up &amp; Adams<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t mess it up,\u201d\u00a0said Haden.<\/p>\n<p>Haden, who earned a Pro Bowl bid with the Steelers in 2019 and a second-team All-Pro nomination with the\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0in 2013, elaborated on why he doesn\u2019t think Pittsburgh needs a MVP-like season from Rodgers to have success this fall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHim playing with the Steelers, they have a really good organization. He doesn\u2019t have to do too crazy,\u201d\u00a0Haden said to host Kay Adams. \u201cDon\u2019t be out there messing things up, be a good leader. Make the right pass. Don\u2019t just be turning the ball over. We have a great defense in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, don\u2019t mess it up.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Joe Haden\u2019s High Expectations for Aaron Rodgers With Steelers<\/h2>\n<p>Listening to just the first part of his answer about his take on Rodgers with the Steelers, Haden appeared to be suggesting the veteran quarterback should be more of a \u201cgame manager\u201d than an elite passer.<\/p>\n<p>But Haden expressed a lot of confidence in Rodgers having success in Pittsburgh because he doesn\u2019t have to be Superman. Yet, Haden argued Rodgers can still be great.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Aaron Rodgers is way better quarterback than just a \u2018not mess it up quarterback.\u2019 I think he\u2019s going to be able to make plays, be able to give opportunities,\u201d\u00a0Haden said. \u201cHe can put the ball in places that other people can\u2019t, so he\u2019s going to be able to throw receivers open.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Haden added that he wished the team had kept receiver\u00a0George Pickens. With the fourth-year wideout and\u00a0DK Metcalf, Haden said the Steelers would have \u201cbeen a problem\u201d for every defense.<\/p>\n<p>But Haden argued Rodgers throwing passes to Metcalf this fall is still going to be \u201ccrazy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe can still fling the ball with the best of them,\u201d\u00a0Haden said, continuing on Rodgers. \u201cHe may not be that mobile, but I don\u2019t think he really needs the mobility. His mind and arm working alongside with Coach Tomlin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rodgers posted his last winning year as a full-season starter in 2021. He went 8-9 in 2022 and then missed all but a couple snaps in 2023 because of an Achilles injury.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, Rodgers led the\u00a0New York Jets\u00a0to a 5-12 mark.<\/p>\n<p>Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has never suffered a losing season in his 18 years at the helm in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Haden Still Uses \u2018We\u2019 to Describe Steelers<\/h2>\n<p>It was a small takeaway point from Haden\u2019s interview with Adams, but the former cornerback used \u201cwe\u201d interchangeably with \u201cSteelers\u201d in his answers.<\/p>\n<p>While Haden spent the final five years of his career in Pittsburgh, he played his first seven seasons with the Browns. While in Cleveland, Haden was arguably one of the best cornerbacks in the league.<\/p>\n<p>After retiring,\u00a0Haden signed\u00a0a one-day contract with the Browns.<\/p>\n<p>Steelers Nation wishes Haden had played in Pittsburgh longer. But since his retirement, the fan base has come to accept sharing his legacy with a hated division rival.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s nice to see Haden appears to hold his time with Pittsburgh in such high regard that he still uses \u201cwe\u201d in answers about the Steelers more than three years after his departure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Former Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Bowler Joe Haden delivered strong advice to quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Although\u00a0Russell Wilson\u00a0made the Pro Bowl roster last season, the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0haven\u2019t really had&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Former Steelers Pro Bowler Delivers Strong Advice to QB Aaron Rodgers.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=55731\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Former Steelers Pro Bowler Delivers Strong Advice to QB Aaron Rodgers.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Former Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Bowler Joe Haden delivered strong advice to quarterback Aaron Rodgers. 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