PITTSBURGH -- Cameron Heyward isn't joining Aaron Rodgers on a darkness retreat anytime soon.

The longtime Pittsburgh Steelers defensive captain said on his "Not Just Football" podcast Tuesday that he's not going to great lengths to recruit the four-time MVP to sign with the Steelers.

"I ain't doing that darkness retreat," Heyward said, responding to a question from co-host Hayden Walsh if he'd go into the dark with Rodgers to land the quarterback's services. "I don't need any of that crap. Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don't. It's that simple. That's the pitch. If you want me to recruit, that's the recruiting pitch. Pittsburgh Steelers. If you want to be part of it, so be it. If you don't, no skin off my back."

The tone matched that of new Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf, who said last week it wasn't his role to recruit quarterbacks to Pittsburgh.

"I just want to play football. I'm tired of talking about the quarterback situation. I'd rather have it done. I don't know what ends up happening. I'm ready to move on into free agency. There's too much going on."

Cameron Heyward

"This is a historic organization," Metcalf said. "They've done the recruiting before I even got here, so whoever wants to come here and try to win as many games as we can, they can join us. But if not, good luck on the other side."

Heyward's attitude, though, is a departure from last year's free agency when he was part of a team-wide push to land Russell Wilson. That time around, Heyward was one of several team and organizational leaders who got on the phone with Wilson. The two FaceTimed for an hour, Wilson said at his introductory news conference in March 2024.

"I told him [Pittsburgh] isn't the place for glitz and glamour," Heyward said, describing his pitch to Wilson on "The Up and Adams Show" in July. "It's not L.A., it's not Atlanta. This is the place where gladiators come, and we're gonna compete every day. He was receptive to that. He wanted to compete."

While he was involved in the last search for a signal-caller, Heyward, 35, expressed exasperation with this year's drawn-out process.

"I just want to play football," Heyward said. "I'm tired of talking about the quarterback situation. I'd rather have it done. I don't know what ends up happening. I'm ready to move on into free agency. There's too much going on."

Though the Steelers are still waiting on Rodgers as he weighs his options, they did add a quarterback to the roster -- and it's one that earned Heyward's stamp of approval. The Steelers brought back 2018 third-round pick Mason Rudolph after his year-long stint with the Tennessee Titans.

Rudolph started 13 games during his four-year tenure in Pittsburgh, and he was vital in helping the Steelers rally to secure a 2023 playoff berth with wins in each of his three regular season starts.

"When he stepped in for us, he was ready," Heyward said. "If we don't sign a QB, and we go in there with Mason, we feel good about it. Excited to have him back. He's a guy for the locker room. A lot of guys vibe with him."