Insider Reveals When Steelers Knew They Landed Aaron Rodgers

The Pittsburgh Steelers had to wait nearly three months from the time they began registering official interest in Aaron Rodgers until he actually signed last week, but the truth of the matter is that the team never lost confidence in the fact that he'd ultimately do so.

While going through the timeline of the entire saga, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer revealed that the higher-ups in the Steelers' organization left Rodgers' meeting at the team faciliy, which took place on March 21, with a ton of confidence that he would eventually join the team.

"A week later, the Steelers’ brass left for the owners meetings in Florida with everything short of a signed contract, carrying a very high level of confidence that Rodgers was coming," Breer wrote.

Pittsburgh always appeared to be the favorite for the four-time MVP's services, and that status was cemented once teams like the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants were more or less out of the running.

After the visit, which Breer stated was, "set up more to get everyone to know each other," there were few reports and little noise regarding when the two sides may get back together and finalize a contract.

The Steelers were never concerned about Rodgers' personal timeline and when he would finally seal the deal, though, because he periodically kept in contact with both head coach Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, the latter of whom is friendly with a pair of the veteran quarterback's recent play-callers in Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur and former New York Jets quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator Todd Downing, who is now the wide receivers coach for the New England Patriots.

"From there, the sides resolved to stay in touch," Breer wrote. "There weren’t regularly scheduled check-ins, but Rodgers would call Tomlin and Smith every now and again, which colors why the Steelers were never really concerned that Rodgers would back out on them."

Pittsburgh decided not to pursue another starting-caliber quarterback to pair with Mason Rudolph or take a prospect early in the NFL Draft, instead settling on Will Howard in the sixth round, due to their belief that Rodgers would soon be on the roster.

Breer noted that in the background, the Steelers' offensive coaches were working to lay the foundation of what the scheme could look like with Rodgers under center while the team went through their offseason program.

Additionally, Breer wrote that the organization received official word early last week that the 41-year-old was ready to sign his deal, though the parameters of it had been set months prior.

"The Steelers officially got word early last week that Rodgers was coming in to sign his contract at the end of the week, and kept it quiet as the rest of the players worked through three days of OTAs," Breer wrote. "The parameters of the deal were actually agreed to in mid-March, and all that was left for GM Omar Khan and [Rodgers' agent] David Dunn to work through were some structural elements and back-end details."

Rodgers will be present at the first day of Pittsburgh's mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, where he'll speak to the media for the first time as a member of the team, and the organization is surely thrilled to finally have him in tow.