Unpopular Opinion: Aaron Rodgers was the Steelers best-case scenario at QB in 2025
When the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the dreaded long offseason, there are plenty of ideas to debate. As part of the triumphant trio on the Steelers Preview podcast, I’ve been known to often give a “Dave answer“ to various things as I often like to argue both sides of an issue. With this in mind, a new weekly segment has been born… Unpopular opinion.
There are plenty of arguments both for and against the Pittsburgh Steelers that might not go along with the majority of fans. Oftentimes I believe in these arguments, while other times I simply like to pose a counter argument for ones that are taking it too much to the extreme. For this reason, I’m going to offer some points about the Pittsburgh Steelers that go against the general fan narrative, or at least how I have heard things.
Next up is the Steelers finally having their guy at quarterback for 2025, and it’s a good thing…
Aaron Rodgers was the Steelers best-case scenario at QB in 2025
This week is a topic that is very polarizing in Steelers Nation at this time. While some fans are excited that the Steelers have brought in Aaron Rodgers at the quarterback position, others are disgusted by the move. But regardless of how fans feel about it, this might just be the best-case scenario for the Steelers quarterback position for 2025.
I can say this right now: I was not someone who wanted the Steelers to sign Aaron Rodgers. For the first half of March, when the idea came up, I was in the, “please, no“ crowd. I didn’t want everything else that went along with Aaron Rodgers, and I definitely didn’t want to pay what I thought someone who is not a team-first guy with his resume would insist on being paid.
But as the possibility grew, my feelings started to shift. It didn’t seem like it was going to be a massive contract for Rodgers. The more I looked into it, the more his teammates weren’t overly critical of him and how he handled himself. More importantly, it appeared that he still had quality football left in him, albeit not the same quality he brought as a four-time NFL MVP, but he was not “washed.“
When the Steelers approached the beginning of the 2025 league year, the one thing I wanted them to make sure they did not do in free agency was overpay a quarterback, particularly for multiple years, who wasn’t “the guy.” There were some options in free agency, but not great ones. In looking at things, the Steelers were going to have to pay more than what I think they should have in order to land one of those options. I wasn’t sold on any of them being “the guy,” so I did not want them to overpay.
Another thing I did not want the Steelers to do was to “run it back“ with Russell Wilson. When the Steelers faced top-notch competition, it was obvious that they were many shortcomings with Russell Wilson’s game. Although I used the term “short,“ that wasn’t his only issue although it was a problem. Wilson did not move through progressions and was more of a “one read, then check down” quarterback. Even though he had a Super Bowl resume, it just didn’t seem like running it back again next year was going to give the Steelers enough of a boost to make a difference.
I know many people were in the Justin Fields camp, as was I. But the biggest reason I wanted Fields wasn’t his quality of play, I felt he was a cheap enough contract to where he could potentially be the guy, but if he was not, it wasn’t going to break the Steelers. Unfortunately, he signed for a little bit more than what the Steelers were willing to offer. Rather than overpay, I’m glad the Steelers didn’t invest too much money into someone who wasn’t going to be “the guy.”
Then there’s Mason Rudolph. I’ve always loved Mason Rudolph. But I also need to be realistic about Mason Rudolph. Could he bring to the Steelers for 17 games plus the postseason what he did in his final three regular season games in 2023? That was going to be a lot to ask. Could he bring that same magic if having to start a few games if Rodgers gets injured in 2025? That is a whole lot more likely. While I could have kept my black and gold goggles on and really thought Mason Rudolph could be the guy for the Steelers this year, it would be hard to call it an upgrade from 2024.
For all these reasons, it looks like Aaron Rodgers was the best-case scenario for the Steelers for 2025. They are not locked into money beyond this year, or so it appears with the exact financial breakdown still to be reported. This does not keep the Steelers from trying to develop Will Howard, who could learn under Rodgers, or from drafting another quarterback next year. This also doesn’t keep the Steelers from dipping into the free agent market at quarterback next year if a crazy scenario happened to go down and someone unexpected hit the market.
The bottom line is, the Steelers did not overpay somebody who wasn’t the guy, and they have the freedom to continue to look for their quarterback of the future next year when there might be better options than what they had this year.
For me, I’m not worried about the future. Now I’m excited about what the Steelers can do this season. Bring it on.
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Now this is what I call an unpopular opinion! Chef’s kiss!
I wanted Fields as well. In retrospect he’s not the guy I’d want a rookie QB learning the NFL game from. Rodgers and Rudolph will be much better games to model for him.
I think my main issue here is only partly that Rodgers is a jag, it’s much more the utter disappointment I have in the Steelers organization for allowing their QB position to get so desperate that they had to court (for almost 3 months) a 40+ year old QB that the JETS just kicked to the curb. The. Jets. This is an organizational failure that has to get fixed, and can’t be allowed to happen again.
Yes, and my prmary reason is the JAG part, although I concur with everything else above. Between Fields’ governer and lagging ability to read defenses, what could Pgh do? What did Darnold get, $33MM AAV, for one season of play?
This QB situation is now more than half a decade old, and is no closer to being resolved than it was at this point in any of the last three seasons. They sat on their hands while they watched Ben literally falling apart without any tangible succession plan. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that this is where we are.
I fully expect Rodgers to ride into the sunset after this season, and the FO to pursue Cousins next off-season to start while they “ready” Will Howard or whomever they draft in 26. This QB uncertainty may well be 10 years old and still unresolved. This is why it’s better to move on a year or two to early than too late.
Yes, it’s a Tomlinism, agreed. Please, no Cousins–why you want me to lose my remaining hair?! Can’t they Darnold, minimum?! Stop the beating, I beg!
The logical choice in 26 is Cousins. He will get released, and is exactly what they’ve been pursuing, old guy on fumes, for cheap. I’m with you though, if this happens I just may walk into the bay.
Got no bay, no mo’, Lake Norman for me.
I think that they kind of had a succession plan? Sign Trubisky as a bridge and draft a QB high, Kenny Pickett. That’s a plan. It just failed miserably.
They should have been looking / moving towards the future at QB before Ben blew out his elbow. It was obvious he was in decline, but they were happy to keep betting on him, and never had more than a backup on the roster. Everything post Ben (except drafting kenny) seems reactionary. Kenny is a bad QB and that didn’t work out, but it didn’t surprise many people. No action, then slow action, then bad decisions, and you have another old QB on another one year deal, and are gonna have to do this a third time next year. This can’t be the plan.
Correct!! And Mason could have been handled differently. Pgh absolutely knew about BR’s elbow troubles years before 2019, and did virtually nothing.
Yeah, when looking at the available options, Aaron Rodgers is probably the best case scenario. Russ isn’t good, neither is Fields, Darnold and Cousins were too expensive. Daniel Jones was the only other realistic option. I would have considered drafting Dart in the 1st or Sanders when he was still available in the 4th, but would still want AARon as the one year bridge QB while the rookie learns.
Steelers will definitely draft a QB in 2026. The free agency options aren’t great…. unless you are excited by Daniel Jones, Davis Mills, or Malik Willis.
Johnny, $33MM APY ain’t all that expensive, today. This is what Baker and Smith will earn, 18th-highest QB salaries in the NFL. Way too early for me to worry about ’26 FAs, I’m concerned with TE(3?) and WR2.
I’m confused as to what terrible things Aaron Rodgers has ever done to deserve the kind of negativity that so many are reacting with now that he’s been signed.
The reality is that Rodgers, after being a dominant QB for 15 seasons, has suffered three unfortunate seasons in a row. In 2022, the Packers were 3-1 after their first four games. But in Week 5, Rodgers suffered a broken thumb on his throwing hand which didn’t heal until later in the season. It definitely affected his performance as the Packers lost five consecutive games and dropped to 3-6 at the season’s midpoint. Incidentally, Rodgers also had lost his favorite receiver, Davante Adams, prior to that season (Adams was dealt to the Raiders)..
In 2023, his first year with the Jets, Rodgers ruptured his Achilles injury the first game, wiping out his entire season. Then last season, he was still gimpy from the Achilles injury early on but his play gradually improved as the season wore on. But Rodgers nevertheless was below par last year for a player with his resume.
I’m not sure how these misfortunes over which he had little control translate to Rodgers supposedly being over the hill now. Nor do I understand why people want to crucify Rodgers for his well publicized, off-the-field quirks.
Rodgers certainly didn’t agree to come to Pittsburgh because he needs the money. The only reasonable explanation is that he still believes he can play at a high level and he still has the desire to compete. As your article points out, the Steelers won’t exactly be paying a king’s ransom for his services. This should be a win-win situation for the organization regardless of whether the Steelers are legitimate SB contenders this season.
I’m posting this because you asked, not really to go after Rodgers, so-to-speak. I also made a comment on your other post about Rodgers declining abilities as a Qb and why this seems more like Wilson 2.0 then serious contention.
As I said there, I’m not necessarily disagreeing with your opinion. Rodgers can come in, work hard, be a great teammate and lead the Steelers to a great season. If he does so, I’ll be all for it. I just don’t have a high degree of confidence that will happen.
But, as far as the “sins” of Aaron Rodgers, here is a list from an article titled, THE SHADY SIDE OF AARON RODGERS that I found by Googling – sins of aaron rodgers. I’m not going to link to it. Anyone interested can do there own research. Again, simply posting this because the question was asked and would seem to require an answer.
So, here are 14 times, per them, that Rodgers damaged his reputation. Some people may agree with him on some of these, but they seem to project a guy with a loose sense of morals that is, at the least, somewhat troubling (I’ve bolded ones I personally find troubling):
The things that I have bolded, to me, stike to the character of a person as they relate to how he will be a leader for this team or whether he will be a distraction. As I said, if he buckles down and focuses on football and does work to acheive his last gasp at glory, I’m all in on supporting him. If he seems more focused on making this season about him, I don’t think it benefits this team long term to have brought him in and would rather see them go a different direction.
Second sentence, last paragraph.
Really, the only one there that I would find fault with is the issue with Jimmy Kimmel. That was a bit of classless slander but hardly world breaking. The rest are hearsay at best or shows he is a bit of a conspiracy theorist (tons of people are those, including a CEO of a multi-million dollar company that I grew up with lol). Not attacking you or anything just my thoughts.
Bill, I acknowledge your confusion. The Steeler organization chose to sign AARod to play, yes? Then honestly, all is as well as can be at this time. The opinions of all folks other than those directly engaged in business with AARod are relevant only to themselves.
The best thing is that AARod will have the opportunity to demonstrate his play as the Steelers strive as a team to play near-perfect football in pursuit of a title whilst ignoring all external pressure in the process. Is it not true that the game matters most?
Google “Danica Patrick / Aaron Rodgers”.
Don’t get me wrong. People break up all of the time and someone usually gets hurt and bitter as a result. Of course, I take information about breaking up by famous people with a huge grain of salt. Still, when coupled with a lot of the other information known about Aaron Rodgers, the stink seems to be a little more pungent. “Emotionally abusive”. Her words, not mine, and emotional abuse can be every bit as damaging as physical.
At best, Aaron Rodgers is merely a narcissist. At worst, he is an egomaniacal manipulator. I tend to believe the latter.
Here is something that I don’t know why it doesn’t get mentioned. Rodgers fractured his thumb near the end of the third quarter in the fifth game on the 2022 season (on his throwing hand. It was on the injury report for a large chunk of the rest of the season that year). So lets look at the stats between the first five games of 2021 (his last mvp year) and the first year of his decline (according to talking heads), 2022, before the thumb fracture:
2021 stats through 5 games: 1233 yards, 10 TD’s, 3 INT’s.
2022 stats through 5 games: 1300yds, 9 TD’s, 3 INT’s.
I would like to see the talking heads go out and sling the football 25+ times a game with a fractured thumb. I have had that injury and would not even think of throwing a football with it. Combine that with most orthopedic doctors (including my own) saying that it takes over a full year to get back to the best you will be after an achilles injury, and that is why I feel somewhat optimistic about his play despite his age. But he is more prone to injury, which means its up to our young oline to protect him better than they have our QB’s the past two years.
a true Pittsburgh Steelers fan, since the 70’s all the sports media groups and Steelers haters with their rat poison are idiots and Arthur Joseph Rooney ll and Mike Tomlin made a big mistake signing and getting Aaron Rodgers because Aaron Rodgers only cares about Aaron Rodgers also I see Aaron Rodgers clashing with offensive coordinator over play calling
a true Pittsburgh Steelers fan, since the 70’s instead of paying Aaron Rodgers Steelers owner Arthur Joseph Rooney ll should’ve used the money to pay T.J. Watt
Please stop spewing that misinformation. The Steelers actually save money on TJ Watt they sign him this year. The money to Rodgers has nothing to do with what is going to be paid TJ Watt. It is a completely false narrative that you keep repeating. Please stop or I’m going to have to have you removed.
Long-time fan, focused on the long-term future. I’ve seen attempts at patching the Steelers’ QB position not accomplish much; I know Justin Fields was someone else’s high draft pick but so were (I go back this far) George Izo, Todd Blackledge and Tommy Maddox; I’m hoping the Steelers will get their next franchise guy in the 2026 draft.
In their history, the Steelers have drafted (not necessarily kept, in the old days) five quarterbacks in the top half of the first round: Bobby Layne, Ted Marchibroda, Len Dawson, Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger. Not bad, certainly a better group than they’ve gotten by any other means. I’d prefer they not mess around reaching or recycling but take dead aim on the guy they really want and spend accumulated draft capital as needed to get him.
To that end, I’m ok with this. My choice would have been to ride with Mason for a year, but this deal didn’t break the bank, will bring intrigue and (who knows?) maybe a better result for this season, and it doesn’t interfere with the long-term strategy.
I prefer this over Justin Fields and some of the rumors we’ve heard for that reason. What I didn’t want was for a younger acquisition to come in and project well enough to compromise next year’s draft plan without really getting us much farther than we’ve been.
No guarantee of success, but if the front office envisions progressing from an adventure with Aaron Rodgers in 2025 to Mason, a top draft pick and Will Howard in ’26 to the new guy with Rudolph and/or Howard from there, I’m in.
…and this will come to be accepted. Well put.
Like sands through the hourglass, these are the Days of Our Steelers.
Dad said Layne demanded a trade after the 1948 draft because Pgh was still using the single wing offense.