Much was said and written throughout the spring about how Pittsburgh Steelers players may feel about quarterback Aaron Rodgers essentially skipping the voluntary portion of the offseason program before he signed a team-friendly contract to join the club in June. 

During Wednesday’s edition of NFL Network’s “The Insiders” program, league reporter Judy Battista touched upon how Steelers players view Rodgers heading into August. 

“Talking to Steelers folks when I got here [Tuesday] night, they all said players have gravitated to Aaron Rodgers,” Battista explained, as shared by Jake Brockhoff of Steelers Depot. “Not surprisingly, they said he is charismatic. Even some of the veteran players who were maybe annoyed and impatient about his late arrival have been won over. The locker room loves him. There’s a lot of enthusiasm. And they really love how he looks physically.”

Physically speaking, Rodgers has wowed coaches with the arm talent he has flashed throughout workouts. He has also frustrated members of the Pittsburgh defense with his no-look passes and his playful trash talk during practices. 

As for the “veteran players” referenced by Battista, longtime Steelers defensive lineman and team captain Cameron Heyward generated headlines when he said in March his “pitch” to Rodgers was: “Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don’t. It’s that simple.” Heyward later claimed his original comments were “misconstrued,” and he has since praised the “leadership” Rodgers has brought to the club. 

“I think when you talk about Aaron, he talks a lot of crap,” Heyward said about Rodgers during a Wednesday appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” per Brigid Kennedy of Sports Illustrated. “But man, I love how he goes about his work. He approaches it the right way. He’s asking questions. He’s been asking us about Week 1, how to prepare for that, night meetings. He’s all about being locked in with this group, which is great.”

It’s hardly a surprise that Rodgers is already thinking about the Week 1 matchup at the New York Jets, as a new Jets regime unceremoniously showed the future Hall of Famer the door this past offseason. As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Steelers as three-point favorites for what could go down as a revenge game for Rodgers.