Rodgers on new helmet: Looks like a 'spaceship'

LATROBE, Pa. -- Aaron Rodgers might have found the right team fit in the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he's still looking for the right fit for his head.

The helmet the quarterback wore last season, the Schutt Air XP Pro Q11 LTD, is now banned for failing to meet the NFL's new safety standards.

Rodgers, therefore, has been practicing in the Schutt Air XP Pro VTD II -- and he's not a fan.

"I don't like it, no," the star quarterback said Tuesday. "I'm trying to change. We're in the process still. It looks like a damn spaceship out there.

"We got to change it. The face mask doesn't fit the helmet because that's an old face mask, obviously just like I'm old, but we're trying to find the right helmet right now."

At minicamp earlier this summer, Rodgers expressed frustration with the helmet switch.

"I can't stand the helmet," Rodgers said in June. "I've worn a Schutt for 20 years, and somehow it finally didn't pass the safety standard."

Rodgers had a scare at the Steelers' final camp practice at St. Vincent College later Tuesday afternoon, when he was stepped on as rookie defensive lineman Derrick Harmon bull-rushed offensive lineman Spencer Anderson into the quarterback.

Rodgers gingerly walked away from the play and massaged his right calf -- the opposite side as the torn left Achilles he suffered in 2023. It also appeared he had scratches on his right shin. Team athletic trainers wrapped a large bag of ice on his right shin, which Rodgers removed after a few minutes. His calf was then wrapped and he returned to practice.

"He just got stepped on," coach Mike Tomlin said. "It was nothing of any significance. He finished his work."

Though Rodgers is frustrated with his ongoing helmet saga, rookie quarterback Will Howard is dealing with frustrations stemming from a "freak accident" that resulted in a broken finger on his throwing hand. Howard, who suffered the injury on a center-quarterback exchange last week, said he initially thought he just jammed his finger and went on to take two more reps in the team period. But during the next individual period, he knew something was seriously wrong.

"I couldn't really grab the ball, and I was like, I think something's kind of messed up here," Howard said. "It didn't feel right. I can normally tolerate pain pretty well, but I literally could not grip the football, so I knew something was messed up. So then we came up, got it checked out and it is what it is. So I mean, we're hoping I can get back soon, but we'll see. I don't, I still don't know."

The sixth-round pick said he wasn't having surgery on the break, but he has been wearing an immobilizer around his ring finger and pinkie on his throwing hand.

"It sucks," said Howard, who was listed as the third-string quarterback on the depth chart, behind Rodgers and Mason Rudolph, before his injury. "Every ounce of me wants to be out there playing, and I'm just sitting here doing nothing. It kills me, especially on something as what felt like dumb to me. It was just a freak accident, but things happen, and it's about how you respond to it and how you handle the adversity."

Howard described the injury as "week-to-week" and said he doesn't know whether he'll be able to return to participate in any of the preseason games.

"I don't know," he said. "I really, I hope so. I was just going to have to see how this heals, and I know I defer to Coach Tomlin on almost of that stuff. I'm still just taking it day by day, week by week and doing what I can to stay ready so I don't have to get ready. So if that opportunity does present itself, I'll be ready, and I just want to stay physically in shape. I would love an opportunity to get out there, and we will see what happens."