Aaron Rodgers Camp Update — August 16: He Sat Because Both Receivers Did

Aaron Rodgers did not throw a pass Thursday night, and the reason is more interesting than the absence. Mason Rudolph started the Steelers' 28 to nine win over Green Bay, and per Ross McCorkle at Steelers Depot, citing Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, it was a late call with a specific condition attached: Mike McCarthy would only play Rodgers if both DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Junior were healthy and available. Both were in street clothes. McCarthy's own explanation leaned on playing combinations of people, per Steelers Depot, and Rodgers, per CBS Sports coverage, called the opener, quote, not real football.

The June preview took a position that was contrarian on age. We said our library contains no validated quarterback aging cliff and we would not improvise one: Rodgers has posted three nearly identical seasons at about 14 points a game across three different teams, threw 24 touchdowns against seven interceptions last year, and won the division at 10 seven. The whole setup argument was the reunion, McCarthy calling plays for him again, plus a remodeled receiver room built around Metcalf and Pittman.

That setup is the thing this week dented. The condition McCarthy set for playing him has now become the storyline: Metcalf is banged up, per Rodgers himself back on August eleventh, Pittman suffered a lower-body injury on August eighth, and McCarthy called both hard-pressed to work this week, with their status for the September thirteenth opener against Atlanta described as uncertain, per Jack Markowski at Steelers On SI. Rodgers said the two injuries have been tough, though he suggested neither is long-term, and praised Brandon Smith's conditioning, per Rodney Knuppel at Athlon. And there is a cost to the caution: the live-rush test against Green Bay's pressure defense was scratched, so the question of how a 43-year-old handles a real rush carries into September unanswered.

Does the June read hold? COMPLICATED. Nothing happened to Rodgers himself, and the durability of his 14-a-game plateau was never going to be tested in a preseason cameo. But the case was always Rodgers plus the weapons, and both headline weapons are hurt with the season four weeks out. A final-season quarterback throwing to his third and fourth receivers is a different bet than the one June described.

The checkable things for next week: whether Rodgers plays Friday against the Jets, which likely tells us whether Metcalf and Pittman are back, and any practice-field sign of the succession order behind him staying quiet. We'll check next Sunday.

_Data via nflverse._