The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in an all-too-familiar spot this offseason: Still searching for answers at quarterback. With the team waiting on Aaron Rodgers to finalize his long-anticipated move to Pittsburgh, questions about how this potential marriage will actually work are swirling.
On the surface, adding a future Hall of Famer sounds like a bold solution to the Steelers’ recent quarterback woes. But as one NFL insider cautions, this situation could just as easily backfire — and in spectacular fashion.
Pittsburgh Steelers Face Boom-or-Bust Outcome With Potential Aaron Rodgers Deal
For a franchise that prides itself on stability, Pittsburgh’s quarterback carousel since Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season has been anything but. Mike Tomlin is now entering his fourth straight year with a new Week 1 starter, and pressure is building.
The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in nearly a decade, yet remain tied with the New England Patriots for the most Super Bowl victories in league history. In 2025, the stakes feel higher than ever.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero pulled no punches when assessing the potential outcomes if Rodgers does, as expected, sign with Pittsburgh.
“We haven’t seen a lot of the same things that we’ve seen in the past year, and we haven’t seen Aaron Rodgers really since 2021,” Pelissero said on “The Rich Eisen Show” on May 30. “2022 was not his best year in Green Bay. 2023 was just four snaps before the Achilles injury. Now he’s a 40-year-old guy coming back from an Achilles.”
Rodgers’ return to the field in late 2024 offered flashes of his old brilliance, but it also exposed real concerns.
“You saw flashes down the stretch, but we also saw some of the worst football that Aaron Rodgers has ever played,” Pelissero added.
This makes the upcoming pairing with Pittsburgh all the more volatile. The Steelers remain confident Rodgers will eventually make it official, but as Pelissero warned, this experiment could go one of two ways.
“In my mind, this is either going to work at a really high level or this is going to crash and burn in epic proportions,” Pelissero said.
Complicating matters further is the limited time Rodgers will have to mesh with his new teammates. Outside of an offseason throwing session with wide receiver DK Metcalf in California, Rodgers has not engaged much with the Steelers’ staff or players.
“It’s going to be up to Aaron Rodgers and all the coaches and players around him who aren’t getting that work with him,” Pelissero said. “All these other people now are going to have to microwave this thing and try to make it work with the guy who is finding time to speak in a variety of different platforms, but not actually call up the Steelers and say what he’s doing.”
For a team already under the microscope, the margin for error is slim. If the Rodgers-Steelers gamble pays off, Pittsburgh could return to contender status. But if it fails, the fallout may be too big for even this proud franchise to ignore.
