{"id":731257,"date":"2026-06-28T15:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T15:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/731257\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T15:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T15:58:08","slug":"germie-bernard-a-rookie-aaron-rodgers-could-latch-onto-and-trust-right-away-kaboly-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/731257\/","title":{"rendered":"Germie Bernard A Rookie Aaron Rodgers Could ‘Latch Onto And Trust Right Away’, Kaboly Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aaron Rodgers\u2019 reputation with rookie wide receivers may not be deserved<\/a>, but Germie Bernard still has a tall order coming into this season. Over the course of his career, Rodgers has rarely had to rely on a rookie. Yet he did so with success as recently as 2022, with Christian Watson doing well as a rookie.<\/p>\n

If Bernard is to flourish with Rodgers<\/a>, though, what will be required of him is the same as that required of any veteran. Rodgers is a stickler for certain things, but first and foremost, you\u2019d better be where he expects. And you\u2019d better make the catch when he looks your way. The Steelers\u2019 rookie second-round pick is equipped for that, Mark Kaboly believes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBernard seems like a guy that\u2019s a little more mature than your average rookie wide receiver. What we\u2019ve seen from him through a month of OTAs, it seems like that\u2019s a guy that [Aaron Rodgers] would be able to latch onto and trust right away\u201d, Kaboly said on 93.7 The Fan<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s a pretty good route runner; he\u2019s where he\u2019s supposed to be at the right time. That\u2019s all that really matters to Rodgers. That\u2019s huge for him, so maybe he is one of those guys that he can trust right away\u201d.<\/p>\n

Entering his first training camp, Germie Bernard is jockeying for playing time as the Steelers\u2019 No. 3 WR. They have DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr. in the starting lineup, but the third spot is in flux. Basically, it will be either Bernard or Roman Wilson, who hasn\u2019t had much of a career so far.<\/p>\n

A 2024 third-round pick, Wilson spent most of his rookie season sidelined, playing five snaps. While injuries hampered his development, the fact remains that he didn\u2019t develop. Last season, he started off slow, playing behind Calvin Austin III in a tight-end-heavy offense. He had a brief period of productivity, but he finished the season on the bench.<\/p>\n

On paper, Germie Bernard should certainly be able to compete with that. The other options are Kaden Wetjen, a fourth-round rookie who has little offensive experience, and Ben Skowronek, who is a Pro Bowler on special teams. If you require context, you don\u2019t play enough to earn Pro Bowl honors on special teams if you\u2019re a star wide receiver, or even a significant contributor.<\/p>\n

There is plenty of speculation that Rodgers played a significant role in Wilson\u2019s lack of playing time. If that\u2019s true, then the young receiver needs to have a big offseason. To that end, he has drawn positive reports. He\u2019s reportedly been the third receiver with the first-team offense throughout the spring, almost to Bernard\u2019s exclusion.<\/p>\n

But training camp and the preseason will matter most. Germie Bernard has already said all the right things, but doing them will hold more weight. His reputation is that of a professional<\/a>, so if that proves true, he should have a leg up. If not, it might add to the idea that Rodgers doesn\u2019t trust rookies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aaron Rodgers\u2019 reputation with rookie wide receivers may not be deserved, but Germie Bernard still has a tall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[3791,7144,109101,3792,349,99,3795],"class_list":["post-731257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-93-7-the-fan","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-germie-bernard","tag-mark-kaboly","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}