So.. they finally did it. The Pittsburgh Steelers finally announced the signing of free agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers. After a couple months of uncertainty, no answers, half truths and nothing remotely consistent, Aaron Rodgers finally decided to put the pen to the paper. Allow me to preface this by saying that I don’t dislike Aaron Rodgers. I still think he can play, and he somehow managed to have more touchdown passes than Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts last year. No, I don’t think he’s elite. Yes, I do think their quarterback room is slightly better. But how much better? Sportsvival analyzes it today.
The 41-year-old signal caller will be entering his 17th year as the starting quarterback of three different franchises. He began his NFL career with the Green Bay Packers after being selected 24th overall in the 2005 NFL Draft. He spent the first three years of his career backing up Brett Favre before taking over the reins in 2008. Two years after being named the starter, Aaron Rodgers led the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, leading the Packers to a 31-25 victory.
After 18 years in Green Bay, he was traded to the New York Jets where his tenure there was less than memorable. Against Buffalo in week one, Aaron Rodger’s season was cut short after suffering an Achilles tear four plays into the game. There were question marks about if this was going to be it for Rodgers. Would he be able to bounce back from the injury and be a solid signal caller? During the 2024 season, he played all 17 games but he had a rather low passer rating (90.5) but almost had 4000 passing yards with 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Those stats are hard to ignore. It’s significantly better than what the Pittsburgh Steelers have had underneath the center for the past couple of years, no doubt..
With that being said, there are things that I just don’t really understand or like about this situation. Most notably, why did the Pittsburgh Steelers wait for so long? With all due respect to the future Hall of Famer, he’s 41 years old. His mobility is obsolete. Sure, he could still throw the ball, but the Steelers offensive line is not nearly consistent enough to have an old quarterback leading the team. I would’ve preferred to just go with Rudolph and Howard, but that’s my opinion.
They’re not paying him a lot of money. The contract is for about $10 million with different incentives in the contract, it could equal $19.5 million. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the contract, especially considering it’s only a one-year-deal and probably the last of Rodger’s hall-of-fame career. I don’t see him falling off a cliff and magically forgetting how to throw a football, but between the age, health concerns, different character concerns over the years (arrogance, cockiness, etc) those aren’t things that help locker rooms. The Steelers just got rid of a problematic wide receiver in George Pickens. Trading Pickens for Rodgers doesn’t make a lot of sense to me especially if they want to get away from different character issues. As Tomlin always says, we want volunteers and not hostages. But it seems like they were willingly held hostage by a 41 year-old quarterback who couldn’t make up his mind for whatever reason.
If Aaron Rodgers can throw for 28 touchdowns with a relatively weaker Jets roster with a bunch of uncertainty surrounding it, there’s no reason why Aaron Rodgers could not hit at least 20 touchdowns with the likes of DK Metcalf, Pat Freiermuth, Calvin Austin, Darnell Washington, Roman Wilson and others. That part I do understand. But it just seems as if they have a lot of variables and a lot of uncertain things that they are hoping go right for someone whose football mileage is nearing the end of his career. Either Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan will either be viewed as geniuses, or they will be responsible for holding up the growth of the franchise another full season..
(photo courtesy of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)