Arthur Smith's Former Player Provides Stern Warning For Steelers Fans About Relationship With Aaron Rodgers

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot of unknowns heading into the 2025 NFL season, but that is usually the case when an organization goes through so much roster turnover. The Steelers completely flipped the quarterback room for the second season in a row, while also making significant changes in the secondary and at wide receiver. All of those changes make it a little hard to predict what the team might be like heading into the regular season, but some fans have high hopes due to the addition of four-time league MVP Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers had a rocky two seasons with the New York Jets from 2023-2024, but a lot of that was out of his control as he suffered a serious injury at the start of the 2023 season. That propelled the organization into complete disarray. He improved throughout the 2024 season and wound up having a really nice second half of the year. His game is expected to be better in Pittsburgh, and some of that has to do with the connection to Offensive Coordinator Arthur Smith. However, one of Smith's former players, Delanie Walker, sees potential issues between the two. He stated this on the most recent episode of The Locker Room.

"The only thing that scares me with that is Arthur Smith and Aaron Rodgers," Walker stated. "I know Art. When it starts going wrong, they gonna be butting heads. And I told y'all about Aaron Rodgers. It's gonna go wrong with Aaron Rodgers."

Walker doesn't seem to have too much belief in Rodgers. He thinks things will go wrong at some point during the season, and it sounded like he expects it to happen early in the year. He believes this is when issues will start to arise between Smith and Rodgers, and the two will butt heads about the offense and what is happening.

Walker has experience with Smith. He played under him while both parties were with the Tennessee Titans from 2013, up until Walker's retirement in 2019. Smith was Walker's tight end coach from 2016 through 2018, before taking over as offensive coordinator in 2019. This means the two had a close working relationship, and the former tight end probably has some good insight on Smith, and how he approaches certain situations. He believes Smith will not back down from Rodgers, who has been very critical about play-calling in his past.

Smith is also coming off of a season where he butted heads with his former quarterback Russell Wilson. It was reported that Smith did not want to give up too much control, and he did not love when Wilson would change plays or make adjustments at the line of scrimmage. Control like that is not going to work with Rodgers, who has been in the league for over 20 seasons and is one of the most accomplished quarterbacks to ever play the game.

Steelers Could Avoid An Issue Entirely

Walker prefaced his comment by saying that issues will arise between Rodgers and Smith when things go wrong. Pittsburgh can avoid that by coming out and being efficient on offense, and winning games as well. The Steelers' offense has not been efficient and consistent in recent years, and it is something that fans are desperate to see. If the running game can get going early on in the year, it will open things up through the air, and the offense can pick up yardage in any way it chooses. A lot of this is going to come down to the offensive line, which is certainly considered an x-factor going into the season.

Smith and Rodgers will certainly have their disagreements. That is how every coaching relationship goes. However, if the team and the offense is good enough, nothing should be blown out of proportion.

What do you think about Walker's comments? Is this something you are worried about? Let us know in the comments below!

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