Steelers Super Bowl winner claims Aaron Rodgers refused to speak to him during visit to training camp

Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers may have inadvertently earned the respect of ex-Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark at the team's training camp this summer.

Clark, a Super Bowl winner-turned ESPN star, was critical of Rodgers' doomed tenure with the New York Jets. So when he saw the newly acquired Steelers quarterback at camp, he was expecting a frosty reception.

Instead, as Clark told Meadowlark's Football America! podcast, he got no reception whatsoever.

'It strangely enough made me respect him,' Clark said, adding that he has 'nothing against' Rodgers, whom he considers 'the best quarterback I ever played against.'

Clark explained that he tried to set up a meeting through the Steelers' communications department, only for Rodgers to decline because he had 'other things to do.'

Although he said he respected Rodgers' answer, Clark still thought a quick greeting was in order when he saw the four-time MVP talking to Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

'For me, if I truly don't have an issue with you, I'm going to speak to you,' Clark continued, as quoted by AwfulAnnouncing.com. 'I'm going to say hello. It's rude not to, in my opinion. So he was talking to Arthur Smith. I talked to some of the guys I see coming from the special teams meeting. I roll the window down and I say, "What's up guys." Arthur Smith kind of speaks. Aaron Rodgers looks at me and he doesn't say anything.'

Clark wasn't hurt, but rather, somewhat impressed.

'I respected it because he was like, "I'm not gonna be fake,"' Clark continued. 'For whatever he feels or whatever it is, he's like that is not someone that I fool with in that way and I'm not going to fake it.

'And I think it set the tone that you and I don't talk. When I was on the field, I didn't say anything to him. He didn't say anything to me.'

Clark said his podcast co-hosts and fellow NFL alums Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder enjoyed the icy moment.

'But I did get a good chuckle out of it,' Clark said. 'Channing thought it was funny. Fred thought it was funny. They were like, "Damn, he didn't even acknowledge it." And I was like, that's better than it being an issue.'

Rodgers has been critical of media for years, but particularly so when it comes to ESPN. He's even accused network talent, both ex-players and non-players alike, of 'trying to stay relevant fame-wise' by offering a series of 'unfounded or asinine' takes.

Clark was quick to point out in December that Rodgers made these points on former NFL punter Pat McAfee's ESPN program.

'This dude is once again tone-deaf,' Clark said of Rodgers. 'This dude is once again unaware. This dude is once again arrogant to a point that's almost sickening because he says these things, and he talks tough, and he behaves in his way, but he ain't. He has all of this cache because he's a good player, but they ain't people around here that come around and talk about what type of leader you are. 

'They ain't people that come around here that talk about wanting to follow you because of the type of man you have been.

'This dude is a fraud. He's been a fraud. He can throw a football, and that's where it stops. Once that talent ends, so does him — and so does he. And to sit up there, man, and to be just blatantly hypocritical is funny and sickening at the same time.'

The Steelers opener their season September 7 on the road against Rodgers' former employer, the Jets.