At the end of March, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II publicly said that he expected Aaron Rodgers to decide on his future before the draft. Now that the draft has passed and Rodgers has yet to share his plans, the media is discussing whether he is even worth pursuing.
This Analyst Is Clueless Why the Steelers Are Still Riding the Aaron Rodgers Wave
Appearing on Fox Sports’ The Herd with Colin Cowherd, sports media pundit Nick Wright said, “I don’t know why they don’t simply get out of the Aaron Rodgers business. The juice is not worth the squeeze. And you cannot, with a new head coach, with new players, with a new system, build any type of culture when you think during OTAs, guys are taking Drew Allar or Will Howard reps seriously.”
Wright makes a valid point when discussing the team’s culture turnover. When a future Hall of Fame quarterback, Rodgers, is keeping the team hostage, it makes it extremely difficult to turn over a new leadership leaf.
While rookie third-round pick Drew Allar and 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard will take the QB1 reps in OTAs and possibly beyond, it’ll be tough for the pass catchers to fully buy into them and the system, knowing the guy throwing to them on Sundays might not be there.
Additionally, Rodgers 2025 production isn’t anything to be fawning over, though he is by far the best option available at this point in the offseason.
Last year, he threw for 3,322 yards while tossing 24 touchdowns to just seven interceptions, appearing in 16 games. His performance would earn him a 71.4 QB Impact grade from PFSN, placing him 29th among quarterbacks.
Wright continued, “When teammates are like, well, Aaron’s going to be the guy, and Aaron’s going to freak out if we don’t know his hand signals and his cadence, like, I just think they should get out of the Aaron Rodgers business, it doesn’t make sense anymore.”
Wright is likely correct again, as Rodgers’ high standards for being on the same page with his receivers are well documented. Unfortunately for the Steelers, it’s too late to get out of the Aaron Rodgers business.
The top current available quarterbacks include Russell Wilson, Tyrod Taylor, and Jimmy Garoppolo, though he’s currently considering retirement.
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None of those names inspires confidence, and it makes sense for Rodgers to possibly serve as a bridge quarterback for Allar and Howard, while reuniting with his former head coach, Mike McCarthy.
There’s no timeline for Rodgers’ decision, so Steelers fans will just need to wait it out like they did last offseason.
