playBrooke PryorOct 16, 2026, 06:00 AM ETCloseBrooke Pryor is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2019. She previously covered the Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and the University of Oklahoma for The Oklahoman.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsPITTSBURGH — Days before making his first career start, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Germie Bernard stood in front of a meeting room at the team practice facility and addressed his offensive teammates.From a seat facing Bernard, quarterback Aaron Rodgers began peppering the rookie with questions. Rodgers asked about hand signals, route-running details, the Steelers’ playbook and the Indianapolis Colts’ defensive tendencies. Anything and everything was on the table.One at a time, Bernard answered the veteran’s questions.
When Bernard got one right, Rodgers moved on to the next. When Bernard answered incorrectly, the wide receiver and quarterback went over the correct answer. Afterward, Rodgers and his three fellow quarterbacks met with their position coach, Tom Arth, and gave a glowing assessment of Bernard. He was ready.”They were just going on and on about how well Germie knows the plan,” Arth said.
“Basically, they’re like, he can call the plays just like a quarterback would.”This wasn’t Bernard’s first time being put on the spot by Rodgers — and it won’t be the last. A second-round draft pick out of Alabama, Bernard is one of the many young pass catchers regularly called to the front of the room and quizzed by Rodgers as a unique way to build trust and test the knowledge of his teammates.”What I’ve learned from Aaron is like, OK, I know that the reason why he’s doing this, because he wants us to be prepared all-around,” Bernard said. “He wants to make sure that we know what we’re doing when we’re out there playing with him.”… I love the challenges, man.
It makes me grow. It makes me a better football player. It makes me a better person because it makes you look at things a lot different. So, I’m just grateful that he does that because whether I get an answer right or I get an answer wrong, I’m able to learn from the things that I don’t know.”Since becoming the Green Bay Packers’ starter in 2009, Rodgers has quizzed his offensive skill teammates in players-only meetings as a way of making sure they see the game the same way.
Jordan Love, his successor in Green Bay, continued Rodgers’ tradition.”It’s pretty eye-opening to see who knows the plan, see who knows who we’re playing and who their personnel is,” Rodgers said. “I just think it’s important to keep those guys on their toes and keep those guys studying and making sure they’re watching film and knowing what’s in the plan. There’s always going to be those quizzes, and hopefully, they get a little bit better.”And in a week in which the Steelers are missing three of their top five wide receivers, Rodgers, 42, will have to rely on an array of young, under-the-radar pass catchers. Before they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defense Sunday (1 p.m.
ET, CBS), they have to pass Rodgers’ quizzes during the week.”It’s a method of accountability, but also it’s an opportunity to talk football and specifics of football,” Steelers coach Mike McCarthy said. “And it’s an opportunity to engage with him even further.”Bernard passed both of Rodgers’ weekday quizzes, administered in a window after practice and before coach-led meetings, and Sunday’s Week 5 test against the Colts. Bernard, who finished with a team-high nine targets, was already poised to have a bigger role against the Colts with veteran Michael Pittman Jr. on injured reserve because of a foot injury, but Roman Wilson suffered an injury during the game, creating an even bigger opportunity for the rookie. Bernard finished the win with six catches for 80 yards, including a 25-yard catch-and-run on a broken play to convert a third down in the fourth quarter.
Leading by just two points, the Steelers’ conversion kept the drive going and eventually ended with a touchdown to go up two possessions.”He’s been getting better,” Rodgers said, adding that Bernard doesn’t repeat mistakes. “He asked the right questions, and I think he’s becoming a little bit more prepared and dialed in. It’s just confidence. When a young player starts playing with confidence, you see the potential of a player.
And I thought last week was a good step in that direction.”Rodgers, a “Jeopardy” superfan and guest host in 2021, doesn’t channel Alex Trebek or Ken Jennings in the quizzes for his teammates. Instead, he embodies another larger-than-life TV personality when he starts testing his teammates: Simon Cowell, who exploded in popularity as the tough-love judge of the early iteration of “American Idol.””I’ve been young and up there in front of everyone, and now it’s awesome to be sitting next to him and asking some questions,” said Steelers tight end Robert Tonyan, who first played with Rodgers in Green Bay when Tonyan was a rookie in 2018. “We were joking about it. He’s like the Simon Cowell.
I’ll be Randy Jackson.”Wide receiver Ben Skowronek, Tonyan added, is Paula Abdul.”All of those guys are really, really, really smart, and they know everything about the offense,” said Steelers wide receiver Brandon Smith, who first got quizzed by Rodgers when the two played for the New York Jets in 2024. “They know about the linemen movements, and they know about where the running back’s going. They know about protections, they know everything. That’s where I aspire to be in my own game.”A practice squad wide receiver, Smith was elevated to the game-day roster against the Colts because of Pittman’s injury.
Similar to Bernard, Smith was put on the spot in the days leading up to the game against Indianapolis so Rodgers could make sure he could trust the receiver. Smith said his palms got a little sweaty at that moment, but when his opportunity arrived, he was calm and collected because of his preparation.With Wilson and Skowronek sidelined by injury against the Buccaneers, Smith’s expanded role will likely continue for at least another week.”I have a lot of trust in him, knows the plan every week, even when he’s been down [on practice squad],” Rodgers said. “And so I expect B. Smith to be able to step in and play as well as he possibly can.”It’s not necessarily unheard of for a quarterback — and some of the more veteran players — to test the younger players.
Wide receiver DK Metcalf said Russell Wilson previously quizzed his receivers in Seattle, but Rodgers’ method of calling his teammates to the front of the room still makes his approach somewhat unique.”I think that’s a pretty normal thing for quarterbacks — maybe not in front of the team,” said Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams, who was teammates with Rodgers in Green Bay and New York. “… Different guys have different ways of doing it. I’m grateful for it to be honest, though, because you feel like you’re being picked on in the moment.”When it’s happening, you may be nervous because you’re a young player or whatever the case may be, but at the end of the day, he’s almost simulating what the game will be like. [You’re] just reacting and finding a way to respond in the moment.
To answer in a team setting in an impromptu type of way, it obviously shows that you know what you’re doing. It’s a good way to get guys ready.”Rather than putting his teammates on the spot in a meeting, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes prefers to talk through routes with his pass catchers one-on-one during practices and training camp. It’s a method Mahomes developed through his experience with tight end Travis Kelce early in Mahomes’ career. When Mahomes took over as the team’s starter in 2019, Kelce, a six-year veteran at that point, began approaching the young quarterback after plays in practice and talked through what he was seeing.
That left an impression on Mahomes.”He would always just talk to me after every play, so when we got to game
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