Aaron Rodgers Ends Decade-Long Stretch With Steelers

After beginning training camp last week, the Pittsburgh Steelers will start to take things a little bit further over the next few days at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa.

The Steelers were supposed to practice in pads for the first time this summer on Tuesday, though storms interfered and postponed those plans.

Now, after going through practice in just helmets up to this point, the team will ramp up the intensity by dressing in their full garb on Tuesday.

Putting on the full pads comes with an extra layer of physicality and speed while simulating the intensity of games in a more authentic manner. There's bound to be some fights along the way, but that's just the nature of the beast as a roster full of players look to prove themselves in the sweltering heat.

Aaron Rodgers is prepared for everything that comes with the territory and is excited to continue progressing in his first camp with the team.

"Listen, I mean I love throwing run solutions, you know, when the box is loaded, you have one-on-ones outside, but today I'm gonna kind of let it go," he said. "I haven't been a part of a true tackling period in a long time, so there might be times in a game where I want to spit out to DK [Metcalf] or Calvin [Austin II], but today I might just hand it off to Jaylen and see what happens."

Practicing in pads isn't second nature to Rodgers, however, revealing that he hasn't done so in over a decade.

"I was trying to rack my brain sitting next to A.J. [Hawk] over there, but it's been a long time," he said. "It's gotta be, you know, over a decade."

The Steelers will keep Rodgers out of harm's way now that there's more on the line in practice, but there's bound to be some fireworks elsewhere on the field.