With training camps underway across the league and the nation, proper NFL stories should be coming out after months of the media conjuring up whatever they could from quotes. And yet, in Latrobe, the biggest storyline so far concerns Aaron Rodgers’ toilet.
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Latrobe, PA, is where the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have arguably made the most splashes in the league this offseason, are holding their training camp for the umpteenth time in a row. They’ve acquired big names like Rodgers, DK Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey, and Jonnu Smith while jettisoning George Pickens and Minkah Fitzpatrick. They also had a near-contract dispute with their best player, T.J. Watt.
But all of those guys must be meshing very well, because all we’re hearing about is how loud Aaron Rodgers and Metcalf’s toilet is at the facility. Apparently, it’s so loud that the pair decided to put a moratorium on flushing at night, according to the wideout.
“The toilet is super loud. So he was like, ‘Yeah, at night, if we got to piss, just don’t flush the toilet.’ I was like, ‘All right, bet,’” Metcalf told Yahoo Sports.
Team captain Cam Heyward recently spoke about it as well, saying the flushes are so loud they “echo.”
“Bro, the toilets are extremely loud. You’re in a dorm, and the way they’re set up, Aaron’s got his room, DK’s got his room, they share a toilet. Each guy has a door on each side. And it is blaringly loud,” said the defensive lineman on his podcast.
“There’s echoes in there. It just happens that way. There’s been rules in the past, like don’t take a piss or take a crap in the middle of the night and flush because that’s just mean. You’re trying to wake people up.”
The Steelers have held their training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe since 1966. Because it’s a dorm style, the guys have to bunk up two to a room, essentially.
Both guys get their own quarters, but they share the bathroom facilities. Heyward said that Rodgers’ no flush at night rule is not a new one, either. In fact, T.J. Watt and former Steelers DE Larry Ogunjobi “got into it” about this very subject during a previous camp.
“T.J. and Larry got into it about it. Because I remember T.J. being like, ‘Oh, this guy pisses every 30 minutes!'” Heyward said, laughing.
He added that the easy solution for a late-night emergency—if it’s a number two—is to take that business to the common area bathroom, where no one is trying to sleep.
Despite the toilet caveat, Metcalf says that while he was surprised at first to have a semi-roommate at camp, he’s glad it turned out to be his starting quarterback.
“He knocked on my door, and I thought it was the front door, and it was actually my bathroom door, because we share a bathroom,” Metcalf said.
“He was like, ‘Oh, man, I was hoping it was you.’ I was like, ‘Ah, did not think I was going to have a roommate, but glad to see you too, Aaron.’ It was a good experience just to see his face and know we could continue conversations outside the locker room.”
Rodgers has also spoken a few times about the relationship he’s built with Pittsburgh’s new No. 1 target. The duo worked out even before the QB signed with Pittsburgh back in the spring, and he says they FaceTime often and have already built a strong connection. Steelers fans will hope that translates to an exciting offense in the Steel City for the first time since 2017.
