Adam Thielen Says Playing With Aaron Rodgers Was the Most Stressful Year of His Career

Adam Thielen spent one season catching passes from Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh. He retired in January. And now he’s telling everyone what it was really like to share a huddle with the guy.

“I felt like I was a rookie again,” Thielen said on Sirius XM NFL Radio. “Because you’re kind of like, ‘I don’t know what he’s gonna say. I hope I know what he says because if I don’t, I’m gonna get my butt chewed and I’m probably never gonna get the ball.’”

Thielen called that season the “most stressful” of his career. But he didn’t mean that as an insult. He meant it more like a challenge he didn’t know he needed at age 34.

“I better lock in every second of every day, or he is gonna rip me apart,” Thielen said. “It’s a good thing. It’s why he’s had a lot of success. Because he demands so much out of everybody.”

Rodgers treats everyone the same way

Thielen pointed out that Rodgers doesn’t separate rookies from veterans. Or guys who’ve caught a thousand passes from guys who’ve caught none. Everyone gets the same treatment. That means everyone gets the same high expectations, and everyone gets the same loud correction if they slip.

“He treats everyone the same way, and he demands your best every day,” Thielen said.

For a guy like Thielen, who built a career on precision routes and hard work, that level of accountability was something he appreciated. It wasn’t always comfortable. But it worked.

The confidence factor

What Thielen said he’ll remember most is the way Rodgers entered the huddle. Not the four MVP awards or the Super Bowl ring. The presence.

“There’s so much confidence when Aaron walks into the huddle,” Thielen said. “There’s so much experience and there’s so much going through his head as he walks into that huddle, and you know that there’s no lack of communication.”

Rodgers led the Steelers to a 10-7 record last season. That was his first year with the team after leaving the Jets. But Pittsburgh lost to Houston in the wild-card round, and it wasn’t close. Now Rodgers is 42 and entering what he says will be his final season.

He’s the oldest active quarterback in the league. He debuted back when Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” was on the radio and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” was in theaters. That was 2005. He’s still here, still demanding people lock in, still making grown men feel like rookies.

Thielen, for what it’s worth, seems like he wouldn’t trade that year for anything. Stressful or not.