5 Reasons Why Aaron Rodgers Will Work For The Steelers

It’s no secret that, if they hope to get back to another Super Bowl anytime within the next 10 years, the Pittsburgh Steelers must find another QB, preferably in the mold of franchise players Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger. But as their 2024 season reached yet another abrupt end, the Steelers found themselves either hopelessly floundering (worst case scenario) or, at the very least, a team still in transition after their third season of the post-Ben era.

The announcement on Thursday afternoon that the Steelers reached a contract with Aaron Rodgers might have been the only development capable of changing the trajectory of what appeared to be a throwaway 2025 season. Even strictly in terms of PR value, acquiring Rodgers provides a much-needed shot of adrenaline for the faithful of Steelers Nation. But the Steelers also have legitimate reasons to believe this deal will pay off in more concrete ways.

The following are my Top-5 reasons why signing Rodgers looks like a sound move for the Steelers at this juncture:

1) At least for the coming season, Rodgers eliminates uncertainty at the QB position. This likely puts to rest the recurring QB merry-go-round we’ve experienced during the past few seasons. Fans and pundits no longer will need to debate who the starting QB ought to be — mainly because none of the other QBs currently on the Steelers’ roster is in a class with Rodgers despite his age.

Certainly, the Steelers cannot be in any worse situation now than they were back in 2020 and 2021 when Big Ben played his last two seasons in the league. Rodgers should give the Steelers at least a reasonable shot to be competitive this season.

2) Rodgers has a wealth of experience as the trigger man for a highly productive offense. He doesn’t require any offensive coaching or coordination because these capabilities already are firmly baked into his brain. This affords a level of comfort similar to that which the Steelers organization enjoyed during Roethlisberger’s career. His presence will enable Mike Tomlin to focus more on the defensive side (where he’s clearly more comfortable), while giving OC Arthur Smith the opportunity to concentrate on fine-tuning the offense rather than devising the overall scheme — a task which Rodgers is entirely capable of handling by himself.

Given the dreadful offense we’ve been watching these past few years, more than a few fans often have felt they’d rather put the aging Roethlisberger back on the field than to continue watching any of his replacements. In a sense, Rodgers will enable the Steelers to reset their clock back to the summer of 2022 before their QB woes started.

3) For several players on the Steelers roster, this will be their first experience working with one of the league’s greatest and most accomplished QBs. Steelers receivers and RBs will benefit by working with a QB known for being quite fussy about the work habits of his teammates. Even if Rodgers plays in Pittsburgh only for a single season, his younger teammates will gain the invaluable experience of seeing how a top-flight quarterback operates the offense. With all due respect to Russell Wilson, Rodgers belongs in an elite class, ranking among the most prolific QBs in NFL history.

4) If Rodgers has suffered any significant diminution in his overall skills, it’s certainly not apparent by watching his 2024 highlights reel as a Jet. Considering his age, Rodgers still has good mobility and the ability to buy time by moving around in the pocket. He still throws beautiful passes and he rarely misses an open receiver. Perhaps most importantly, Rodgers makes sound decisions under pressure. Generally speaking, he knows when a particular play simply isn’t there and rarely commits the kinds of errors that take his team out of the game.

5) Despite his critics, it’s obvious that Rodgers still believes he has something left in the tank and hasn’t lost his competitive drive. Rodgers currently is the all-time NFL leader in career passer rating, ahead of Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. If Rodgers has only an average season in 2025 (based on his previous record), he will eclipse Ben Roethlisberger’s career total in passing yards to rank among the top-5 QBs in NFL history. He needs only six more TD passes to eclipse Brett Favre and move into fourth place in career TD passes. He’s also likely this season to eclipse Roethlisberger in career pass completions.

So when considering what truly motivates Rodgers, it’s certainly not unreasonable to consider that he might be coming to Pittsburgh to play for his legacy — not only to be considered as Green Bay’s greatest quarterback of all time, but also greater than Ben Roethlisberger, a quarterback that Rodgers has respected ever since his earliest days in the NFL. Getting the opportunity now to come to Pittsburgh and eclipse Big Ben’s career records apparently was a stronger motivation than Rodgers could resist.

The bottom line when considering the many quirks of the Rodgers personality comes down to the picture of a guy who’s still a very good football player and not quite ready yet to stroll off into the sunset. For a team whose offense has struggled as mightily as the Steelers in recent seasons, Rodgers presents not merely a ray of hope for the upcoming season, but quite likely the best possible option for filling the team’s most impactful position. Steelers Nation, which for many seasons feared and respected Rodgers, ought to extend a warm welcome to one of the league’s greatest players.