Aaron Rodgers Is a Perfect Fit at Quarterback for the 2025 Pittsburgh Steelers
It’s not meant to be a clickbait headline, but it probably will be. Steelers Nation is extremely divided on the topic of Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his potential signing in the coming days (or weeks, or months). Who knows, really?
The thing is, I love the idea of Aaron Rodgers on this Pittsburgh Steelers team for 2025.
I understand the cynicism. Rodgers is, after all, one of the most polarizing players in the league in recent years. Whether for his political stances, perceived narcissistic tendencies, or general strangeness, a lot of people are turned off by the person of Aaron Rodgers, forget the play on the field.
Let’s talk about on the field, too. Since being traded from Green Bay and tabbed as the “savior who was promised” for a downtrodden New York Jets team in 2023, it’s been anything but a divine experience. From the season-ending achilles injury on snap 4 of Rodgers’ regular season Jets debut to the roller-coaster ride of organizational failures over the last 2 years, it was a wild ride, to put it nicely. Add in the fact that he was basically given executive powers when it came to roster building and decision-making, and Aaron Rodgers’ time in the Big Apple can be described as no less than a travesty.
If all that wasn’t enough to make Steelers fans wary at the thought of Rodgers in black and gold, this offseason of speculation and noncommittal from the 41-year-old to date definitely hasn’t helped matters.
I see all of that. I hear the frustration of my fellow Steelers fans. However, I’m here to tell you that the majority of the trepidation can be put to bed when it comes to Aaron Rodgers as a fit for the Steelers at QB. Let me give you 3 reasons why.
1. AARON RODGERS ISN’T COMING TO SAVE THE STEELERS
Mike Tomlin and the Steelers aren’t looking for a savior at QB in 2025. Anyone who says they are isn’t paying attention. Thats not why the team has pursued Rodgers this offseason. The simple fact is the Steelers want to be competitive every year, whether they are in transition or a real contender. The 2025 Steelers are no different. They understood very early on in the process that they weren’t going to find a franchise QB this offseason.
That player didn’t exist for PIT, based on the resources available to them and the field of players to choose from. Two years ago, the Jets were looking for that one last piece to chase a championship, and Aaron Rodgers was their choice for that role. The Steelers aren’t looking for that, nor is Rodgers that player at this stage of his career. They want a proven veteran who can keep them competitive while they position themselves to go hard after a young franchise QB in 2026. Of all the players available to them this offseason who could fill that role, Rodgers is the best option with the highest upside for the price, and he doesn’t force the team to commit to him beyond this year.
2. AARON RODGERS WON’T DICTATE HOW THE STEELERS DO BUSINESS
Say what you want about them during their recent run of playoff failures and relative dysfunction, but the Pittsburgh Steelers are NOT the New York Jets. The Steelers’ organizational stability, philosophy, and infrastructure are still world class in the sport, and they stand in stark contrast to the Jets, whose consistent ineptitude and structural incompetency rival only the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers will not allow Aaron Rodgers to dictate their direction or philosophy. While his input as a 4x MVP QB will be helpful in running an efficient offense, it will carry no more weight than that. Mike Tomlin is the face of the Steelers. The veteran defenders on the team like Cam Heyward and TJ Watt will have the ear of Tomlin and co. over Rodgers. Thinking that he would turn the Steelers into the ‘23-‘24 Jets is simply an incorrect assumption to make.
3. AARON RODGERS HAS SOMETHING LEFT IN THE TANK
Lastly, you bring in Rodgers because he’s got some game left. Watch the tape from last year and you’ll see he still has the arm talent and enough of the elusive pocket mobility that made him special, even if he doesn’t make it look as easy at age 41 as he used to. I can easily imagine a loose, one-last-ride, fun-focused Rodgers slinging the rock to DK Metcalf down the sideline and Pat Freiermuth up the seam. It won’t be 2021 MVP Aaron Rodgers back there, but it also won’t be 2024 Rodgers in a Nate Hackett offense for a dysfunctional Jets team that fired their head coach 6 games into the season. He’s got enough left to give the Steelers better than what they had between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields last year, and that’s plenty for this defense and this Head Coach to field a competitive squad.
While I haven’t been shy about sharing my feelings on social media and on my podcast appearances, I’ve been hesitant to write about the Aaron Rodgers subject at all given the uncertainty of the situation. He’ll probably sign the day before this gets published now that I’ve written it. I do hope at least this angle eases some of the tension about this potential signing, and maybe a few more of you will hop on this moving train with me.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Go Steelers!
a true Pittsburgh Steelers fan, since the 70’s NO! Aaron Rodgers isn’t a perfect fit for the Steelers it’s a terrible fit and if Steelers owner Arthur Joseph Rooney ll signs and bring in Aaron Rodgers it will be a terrible mistake all the sports media groups and Steelers haters with their rat poison are idiots and don’t know what they are talking about
I’m with Ed here, for the most part. Thing is, warfarin, in small doses, is helpful to people who require such pharmaceutical aid. And some sports media is okay–national sports media iargely is poor, IMO.
Yeah sure, there are rat poisons other than warfarin.
Why is it a terrible fit?
Much regardlng potential performance of any person in any role is based on projection and speculation. So, I could be wrong.
There’s soft data showing AARod is somewhat of a prickly pear w.r.t. interactions w/fellow players and coaches. I recall mention of AARod performing superlatively well in the LeFleur offense in ’20-’21 (hard data), thus AARod thus should do well in Arthur Smith’s offense due to similarities between the two. There’s soft data indicating AARod wasn’t always happy running the successful LaFleur system, as AARod’s more of a “West Coast offense devotee”. There’s additional soft data regarding unhelpful to team success friction between Dangeruss and Smith after the win vs. the Bengals that apparently persisted for the remainder of Pgh’s games. [Pgh’s performance was poor in those games, which was further confounded by GP’s injury and failing defense.] This might be a recipe for strife, possibly implying AARod might be a poor fit in Pgh for ’25. Why create potential for strife?
As to AARod’s potential on-field performance, you didn’t ask about that here, and that’s another ball of wax It’s a jungle out there, a jungle out there.
I think it was on the Steelers fix where Jeremy and Andrew were talking about Rodgers vs Rudolph and their record in 2025 and how it will impact the 2026 draft, and I think I’m in the boat of riding with Rudolph and being okay with a losing season. Crazy to even say that, but this team is headed in the right direction and is filling up holes and making a lot of changes to where a solid qb in the top 10 with all of those picks could turn this thing around very quickly. I’d love to run a simulation to see the difference in record with Mason compared to Rodgers. I would think it’s a couple games Rodgers wins this team, which is a difference of 5-8 draft slots. Trading up to 7 or so from 12 is a heck of a lot easier than trading up to 7 from 20.
John, I’m sort of with you. I ask, why a “losing season” with Mason and not a season with Mason? No need to run a sim though, Big Ben said AARod equals four wins on his Channel Seven channel. Ben knows ball. Computers can be fun, though ya gotta watch out for GIGO. Note: Browns and Rams each have two ’26 1st round picks, very unhelpful for Pgh. Bless our Steelers.