The wait is over. Pittsburgh Steelers fans can breathe a sigh of relief. The Steelers finally have clarity in their quarterback room in 2025. Aaron Rodgers will be wearing the black and yellow as the starting quarterback in 2025, following a long-awaited agreement.
The Steelers added their final piece to the puzzle on offense, completing their revamp and instantly upgrading the depth chart.
With clarity comes the reality that everyone isn’t on board with the Rodgers’ signing, including one prominent former Steelers player turned ESPN analyst.
Aaron Rodgers Signing Keeps the Pittsburgh Steelers ‘Mired in Mediocrity’
ESPN’s Ryan Clark believes that the Steelers’ decision to sign Rodgers could continue a troubling trend in Pittsburgh. The team is constantly hanging around playoff contention or faltering in the early rounds of the playoffs but cannot get past this point year after year.
Their inability to find a consistent answer at the quarterback position a problem that dates back to 2022 when Ben Roethlisberger retired. For all those reasons, Clark believes adding Rodgers will continue to keep them in this endless cycle.
“This is the worst-case scenario for Pittsburgh Steelers fans. It continues to keep you mired in mediocrity,” said Clark on the Rodgers signing.
Award-winning former Steeler Ryan Clark on Aaron Rodgers signing: “It continues to keep [the Steelers] mired in mediocrity.” Beautifully said. pic.twitter.com/JuomCcsgca
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) June 5, 2025
Clark knows that Rodgers will be an improvement at the quarterback position. There is no denying that when the other options on the roster are Mason Rudolph and rookie Will Howard. Rodgers is a four-time NFL MVP after all.
But the problem for Clark is that this move doesn’t move the needle. The Steelers need to find a long-term answer at quarterback who can raise the ceiling of this team to Super Bowl contenders, and Rodgers likely doesn’t do that.
Looking at Rodgers’ last year with the New York Jets, PFSN’s QB+ metric had Rodgers at 21st with a grade of 72.2/C-. This finished behind both of the QBs who racked up starts for the Steelers last season in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. While Fields didn’t have enough pass attempts to qualify for the metric, he would’ve finished 15th if he continued his production, and Wilson came in at 17th.
The Jets’ offense did go through quite a bit of struggles in 2024, so expecting Rodgers to improve is well within reason. Rodgers is 41 years old and has been banged up with nagging injuries, along with his torn Achilles two seasons ago, so a return to MVP form might be out of the question. Then again, this is Aaron Rodgers.
Bridge to the Future? Steelers Ready for New Offense
Head coach Mike Tomlin’s streak of 18 straight seasons at the helm is an NFL record, and Tomlin will be looking to tack on another year to his streak. Still, the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2016 as the franchise remains stuck in mediocrity, while continuing to search for a long-term answer at quarterback.
Pittsburgh did take a late-round flier on Howard, drafting the Ohio State quarterback in the sixth round (185th overall). He could get a crack at being the future face of the franchise, otherwise the Steelers will be looking to draft someone in 2026. Rodgers is only inking a one-year deal, according to multiple reports.
The Steelers are going to see a new offense in 2025 as they made some offseason moves that made headlines throughout the league. They acquired star wideout DK Metcalf from the Seattle Seahawks, traded away receiver George Pickens, and let 1,000-yard rusher Najee Harris leave in free agency.
Rodgers is going to be on his third team of his career and could very well be embarking on his final NFL season. With Rodgers, the Steelers will be the talk of the NFL quite often as they look to finally break out of this cycle of mediocrity.