The Jig Is Up: Steelers Offseason, Vol. 12, Workout Vibes
Recently I was thinking about my time writing about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Throughout my career doing so, I’ve essentially done it all.
Commentary, news, breaking stories, features and even took a stab at simple film room breakdowns.
The one thing I’ve never done is work on just a random thought type format.
I can’t speak for you, the reader, but I am always thinking about writing and the Steelers. Thinking about different aspects of the team and game. Thanks to reading Myron Cope’s biography I decided to put a unique spin on this type of feature.
Now, for the name of the article, anyone who is familiar with the Styx song “Renegade” should know where it came from. If not, this is where it came from…
The jig is up, the news is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Nevermore to go astray
This’ll be the end today of the wanted man
The jig is up…time for some randomness.
What’s in a workout?
Earlier this week it was made known the Steelers prized wide receiver, DK Metcalf, worked out with Aaron Rodgers at UCLA in California. This started as a report from the NFL Insiders, and then video surfaced of the two working out together.
Check that out below:
Video got taken down ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/fbOwuWGTLJ
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 1, 2025
Does this matter? To me it does, and not in the sense that I’m hoping and praying Rodgers signs with the team. My main thought is why would Rodgers workout with Metcalf if he didn’t want to see what it would be like throwing passes to the monster who spent his entire career in Seattle?
Maybe this is just Rodgers continuing to get a feel for what life would be as a member of the Steelers, but this isn’t a “nothing burger” as many other stories are this time of year. Will Rodgers sign? Who knows, but this is significant to me. If Metcalf just wanted to workout, he wouldn’t necessarily need to get a 4-time NFL MVP to do so.
Make the trade?
Thursday news was made the New England Patriots were shipping back up quarterback Joe Milton to the Dallas Cowboys. Here was the compensation.
The Patriots are trading QB Joe Milton III and a seventh-round pick to Dallas in exchange for a fifth rounder, per source.
Milton drew interest from multiple teams but ends up with the Cowboys. pic.twitter.com/pCfDbcWsTy
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) April 3, 2025
On our SCN Slack channel this got a lot of people up-in-arms suggesting the Steelers should have been in the mix for Milton’s services. Later it was made public the Steelers were one of the teams in contact with the Patriots, but didn’t get the deal done.
To be clear, I never thought Milton was a player who could turn into the long term answer at quarterback, but I do think he could be a quality back-up quarterback for years to come. The Steelers don’t just need a starting quarterback, they also need a long term option as a back-up. The price might have been too much for Pittsburgh, considering they are already without a full set of 2025 NFL Draft picks.
Training Camp Hard Knocks Anyone?
It was announced Thursday how the rules for whether a team is picked for the Training Camp version of HBO’s Hard Knocks has changed. The rules for what eliminates a team from being on Hard Knocks, the training camp edition, are as follows:
- Team has a first-year head coach
- Team will be featured on the season’s in-season edition
- Team has been on the training camp Hard Knocks in the last 8 seasons (2017-2024)
Hard Knocks has loosened its rules on which teams can be forced into the Training Camp edition.
The new rules for who CAN’T be forced to participate:
— Teams with a first-year head coach
— Teams featured in that season’s in-season edition (covering a full division)
— Teams on… pic.twitter.com/InF6x6u5VU— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) April 3, 2025
The rule of a team not being eligible if they made the playoffs the previous year has been removed, which means even more teams are options for the HBO series. And, yes, that means the Steelers could be an option for the Hard Knocks during training camp in 2025. After watching the in-season version last season, I would love to see a training camp version which is all Steelers, all the time. However, I don’t think the Steelers will be the selection, considering they were featured in-season last year.
Then again, if Rodgers signs with the Steelers that could all change…
2025 Schedule Reminder
There has been a lot of talk already about the potential of who, and when, the Steelers will be playing in Ireland in 2025. When I thought about it, I figured it would be helpful to remind fans of the team’s opponents, and locations, for this upcoming season.
Home
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
Indianapolis Colts
Seattle Seahawks
Away
Baltimore Ravens
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Detroit Lions
New England Patriots
New York Jets
Los Angeles Chargers
The schedule won’t be released in full until May, but when you look at the above matchups, what do you think?
Art’s comments vs. Mike’s
This past week were the NFL league meetings, and the Steelers brass were all speaking to the media in some capacity. Mike Tomlin, Omar Khan and even Art Rooney II all did their rounds in answering questions about the team heading into the 2025 NFL Draft. What was interesting to me were the stark differences between Tomlin and Rooney’s comments regarding Aaron Rodgers.
When Tomlin answered the question about a potential timeline, you would have thought there was no timeline.
“I don’t know that we’ve approached it from a deadline perspective. Certainly, as I mentioned, you’d like to have settled circumstances, but deadlines can often bring that to a head.”
If you look deeper into Tomlin’s media session, he went as far as to say training camp would be the line of demarcation.
Mike Tomlin said there was no internal Steelers deadline on Aaron Rodgers to make a decision “to my knowledge”
“Line of demarcation” for an incomplete QB position to hinder team development is training camp. Tomlin said the spring is about “teaching and growing.”
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) March 30, 2025
As for Rooney, he sang a different tune when asked about how long he would wait for Rodgers to make a decision, this after saying things were “positive” in talks between the quarterback and the organization.
“We’ll see what happens. And hopefully, we’ll know something soon,” Rooney said.
“(We won’t wait) forever, but a little longer.”
Quite the different messaging here. Maybe I’m reading too much into it. Maybe I’m just sick of waiting and want a decision to be made. Maybe all of these things can be true.
Sweatin’ Bullets
Someone check the thermostat down in Florida. For the second straight year Tomlin looks as if he is either being interrogated for a serious crime, has a ridiculous fever, or is completely overdressed. During Tim Benz’s podcast with TribLive’s Steelers reporter Joe Rutter, the air conditioning malfunctioned that morning, which makes sense.
But can someone get the man a towel at least?!
Mike Tomlin on Aaron Rodgers pic.twitter.com/NfOMrX1Unp
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) March 31, 2025
Big Night Aht? Really?
For those who don’t know, the Pat McAfee Show is about to do something they haven’t done before, and that is to have a live evening show. And what better place to start than in Pittsburgh on April 9th. As Aaron Rodgers continues to drag his feet on making a decision, there are people who think he is delaying the announcement for McAfee’s “Big Night Aht”.
Is this what we’re doing now?
McAfee and AJ Hawk addressed those rumors on their show yesterday, and while they didn’t say it would happen, they didn’t say it wouldn’t either. Take a listen for yourself in the video below.
(Editor’s Note: Video has language which might not be appropriate for kids or a work setting.)
Stop putting that aht in the atmosphere 😂😂
Big Night AHT is getting CLOSE #PMSLive https://t.co/1zoK0XCwPm pic.twitter.com/bAuEmPLG0G
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 3, 2025
Player Spotlight
I wanted to start doing a spotlight segment every week during the offseason of a lesser known player who donned the black-and-gold for a time.
This week’s player: Antwon “Valentino” Blake
Blake went undrafted out of UTEP and signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2012 NFL Draft. After being released by Jacksonville, the Steelers claimed Blake off waivers. Blake stayed on the team for the next three seasons, eventually becoming a starter in 2015. However, the Steeler pass defense was one of its worst in decades, Blake played a role.
During Week 5, he picked off Philip Rivers, and ran it 70 yards for his first pick-six. He would have 2 more picks during the year, one in a Week 8 loss to the Bengals, and one against the Bengals in the Wild Card game.
Blake would remain in the NFL until 2017 when Blake announced his retirement after time with both the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants. After a year off Blake joined the CFL and the Saskatchewan Roughriders to end his professional football career.
Check out the latest “Let’s Ride” podcast in the player below:
That does it…the jig is up, they’ve finally found me. This renegade is outta here…be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for the rest of free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft.
