Reasons for Heyward’s Rodgers clarification

Cameron Heyward sure sounds like he is walking back his comments about potential new teammate Aaron Rodgers.

During his “Not Just Football” podcast last week, Heyward was asked about the drawn-out discussions regarding the Steelers’ vacant starting quarterback job.

“I think, just (sigh) … I want to play football,” Heyward told co-host Hayden Walsh. “I’m tired of talking about the quarterback situation. I’d rather have it done. I don’t know what ends up happening. I don’t know, man. This is … ugghh… I’m ready to move on in free agency. There is too much going on.”

Specifically, Walsh asked Heyward if he’d be willing to do one of Rodgers’ darkness retreats to convince the quarterback to come to Pittsburgh.

“I ain’t doing that darkness retreat. I don’t need any of that crap,” Heyward shot back. “Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don’t. It’s that simple. That’s the pitch. If you want me to recruit. That’s the recruiting pitch: Pittsburgh Steelers. If you want to be a part of it, so be it. If you don’t, no skin off my back.”

On Wednesday’s “Good Morning Football” on the NFL Network, Heyward mollified those statements from his own podcast, insisting that they were “misconstrued.”

That’s not quite Charles Barkley claiming he was misquoted in his own autobiography. But it’s close.

“I was asked the question of, would you go to the lengths of going to a darkness retreat to recruit Aaron Rodgers? I said, ‘I’m not doing that.’ The pitch is, ‘If you want to be a Steeler, be Steeler,’” Heyward told Kyle Brandt. “That’s all it was. It wasn’t meant that I don’t like Aaron Rodgers.”

As Heyward continued speaking, he endorsed the idea of Rodgers coming to Pittsburgh.

“When I look at our team right now, it would be really cool to have a guy like Aaron Rodgers,” Heyward added. “But I can’t be the guy who gets it over the finish line. I think he’s got to make those decisions for himself. But, (I’m) excited to see what happens.”

Heyward insisted that he hasn’t had communication with Rodgers, but he was in the building when the former Jets and Packers quarterback had his six-hour meeting at team headquarters.

“I was actually with some strength coaches that day,” Heyward revealed. “I think they were trying to get everybody out of the building so they could just have a conversation with him.”

Brandt asked what Heyward would say to Rodgers if given the chance.

“I would just say, ‘If you come to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the goal is to win,” Heyward replied. “We haven’t had the success we want, but the goal is still in mind to raise a Lombardi and bring that seventh one to Pittsburgh. We don’t really care about the glitz and glam of New York. But, the focus is on good, hard football. Compete, and every day, challenge each other.”

Well, neither Heyward nor Rodgers have to worry about the New York factor now. The Jets have moved on from Rodgers in favor of former Steeler Justin Fields, and the Giants decided to acquire another former Steeler, Russell Wilson, instead of waiting on Rodgers’ decision any longer.

This is the second time Heyward has tamped down his comments about Rodgers since they blew up the internet last week. He did so on Friday’s “Rich Eisen Show” as well.

“I just said I was not going to go on a darkness retreat to recruit him,” Heyward told Eisen. “I don’t know why everybody thought, ‘Oh, Cam’s really going at him.’ Some fans felt like, ‘Oh yeah, keep doing that.’ Other fans felt like, ‘Oh, man, you’re really gonna scare him off.’ I’m not scaring anybody off. I just want to win games and play good football.”

Gee, I wonder why Heyward is sanitizing his initial quotes? Could it be that when Heyward made those comments on March 18, he wasn’t exactly privy to how far along the discussions were with Rodgers and that the Steelers were closer to getting a deal done than what Heyward thought?

Not only that, but perhaps Heyward was also leaving the door open for a potential return by Wilson and didn’t want to make it look like he was booting last year’s QB out the door for a new flavor of the month.

At that point, it’s quite possible Heyward was unaware of how unlikely it was that Wilson was going to return for a second year in Pittsburgh regardless of Rodgers’ decision.

I don’t think it is too conspiratorial to suggest that someone from the franchise could have gotten in Heyward’s ear after hearing those remarks and said, “Hey, Cam, this deal with Rodgers is probably happening. You may want to clear the air before things get off on a bad note.”

Or maybe he just figured it out on his own.

It feels like Heyward has been on a bit of a “clarification” tour of national outlets in recent days. My guess is that is the reason why.