Steelers Now
Mike McCarthy could’ve united with Aaron Rodgers one season sooner. Now paired back up with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the two spent 13 campaigns together in Green Bay.
Ex-Steelers running back Merril Hoge revealed McCarthy, then the San Francisco 49ers’ offensive coordinator, wanted to take Rodgers with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft.
“Mike McCarthy, all of his training, all of his tutoring, Aaron Rodgers is the foundation of that,” Hoge said on Friday’s episode of the “Straight Facts Homie!” podcast. “He’s crossed paths with him (back to the 2005) draft, because (McCarthy) was in San Francisco. … Aaron Rodgers was a hard guy to figure out, just because of the system (he was) in.
“He shared this story that would’ve opened my eyes, too, to a different dynamic of his talents. I guess the pro day, his coach — I can’t remember who it was — he knew what had not been on display in college, and what needs to be on display in the NFL, and that’s the ability to move and throw. And he said they put them on this program.”
Seeing Rodgers throw on the move “changed (San Francisco’s) perspective on him from Alex Smith,” Hoge said. “That’s when actually Mike, he wanted Aaron. He wanted Aaron at that point, when he saw the pro day.”
Still, the Niners plucked Smith with the top choice, then Rodgers had to painstakingly wait in the green room until the No. 24 selection. Go Long’s Tyler Dunne theorized in May that Rodgers was holding a grudge that dated back to that situation. Of course, that was before Rodgers rejoined McCarthy for what will be his final NFL go-round.
“I think that you’ve gotta take it all the way back to the San Francisco days, really,” Dunne said. “He holds a grudge like no other. Those aren’t my words. Those are words of players. … It’s part of what makes him special. He can create enemies, be they real or imagined, go out there, he feasts on those enemies — it’s part of what makes Aaron Rodgers an all-time great. And I think that he never forgot that Mike McCarthy preferred Alex Smith over himself as the OC for the 49ers.”
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Ex-Steelers RB Reveals Aaron Rodgers, Mike McCarthy Could’ve Linked Up Sooner
