Aaron Rodgers return to the Pittsburgh Steelers presents a kind of a excellent news/dangerous information scenario for the staff.
The excellent news is that they can stop the guessing game (and waiting game) on what he is going to do, and provides them their beginning quarterback for the 2026 season. He’s additionally in all probability the very best choice for competition this season, given the out there choices.
The dangerous information is that he’s not ok at this stage of his profession to push them into the highest Tremendous Bowl contender class and leaves them destined to be the identical staff they’ve been for the previous decade.
That staff shouldn’t be ok.
Aaron Rodgers will make the Steelers aggressive, however not aggressive sufficient
If the Steelers’ objective in 2026 is to compete for a playoff spot, and each indication from the group makes it clear that’s the case, as it’s yearly, then Rodgers might be the best choice they will flip to.
Particularly among the many choices on the roster.
Mason Rudolph is a succesful backup and might win an occasional begin if wanted, however he isn’t going to be a full-season reply.
Final 12 months’s sixth-round decide, Will Howard, has by no means taken an NFL snap in a preseason or regular-season sport and is already coping with the lengthy odds of being a late-round quarterback.
Drew Allar was picked within the third spherical this season and appears to have the eye of latest head coach Mike McCarthy, given his arm power and skill to make each throw on the NFL route tree. However he’s a rookie whose mechanics and fundamentals are being completely damaged down and rebuilt again up. He’s not more likely to be a sensible choice for a aggressive staff this season.
Rodgers, in the meantime, is a future Corridor of Famer, a Tremendous Bowl champion and a four-time MVP. Whereas he isn’t anyplace near the participant he was at his peak when he was profitable all of these awards, he was ok in 2025 to assist lead the Steelers to a 10-win season, an AFC North division championship and a house playoff sport.
The Steelers take pleasure in profitable extra video games than they lose, and take nice delight in the truth that they haven’t had a dropping season since 2003 and are constantly in playoff competition. And there’s a lot to be stated for that. The issue is the Steelers haven’t really received a playoff sport because the 2016 season, and have not likely been aggressive in any of their latest postseason video games.
The dearth of elite quarterback play over that point interval is a giant cause why. Whereas their protection has constantly been excellent, and at instances even glorious, they haven’t had the kind of top-tier quarterback play that really makes a staff a Tremendous Bowl contender because the prime years of Ben Roethlisberger.
The top of his profession, and the revolving door of quarterbacks since him, have constantly been under common to downright dangerous. That has helped maintain the Steelers within the mediocre center of the NFL. They’ve did not develop quarterbacks via the draft thus far, have relied on declining veterans in free company, and haven’t been in a position to get right into a place on the prime of the draft (both by dropping or buying and selling up) to discover a younger elite expertise.
This 12 months’s staff figures to do what the previous few groups have achieved and grind out 9 or 10 ugly wins, perhaps sneak into the playoffs, lose to a staff with a greater quarterback, and enter subsequent offseason with the identical uncertainty at a very powerful place on the sphere.
They desperately want Allar to develop. If he doesn’t, they’re going to maintain in search of their subsequent long-term reply. It’s not straightforward to seek out.
