The ready sport is lastly over. Aaron Rodgers has informed the Steelers that he’ll settle for their provide as he appears to cap off his Corridor of Fame profession on a significantly better notice than what occurred throughout his tenure with the Jets.
New York gained solely 5 video games in two years with Rodgers and ended up having to eat $49 million on useless cash towards the wage cap. It is protected to say the Jets did not get the Rodgers expertise they hoped for. However as everybody is aware of, there’s way more that comes with the Rodgers expertise than how he performs on the sphere.
Let’s go over the professionals and cons of the Steelers bringing in Rodgers for the 2025 season.
Professionals
Though it is easy to search out negatives in signing a 41-year-old quarterback together with his greatest soccer properly behind him, there are positives and the explanation why this transfer is smart for Pittsburgh.
First off, Rodgers in truth performed higher than the narrative suggests final season, at the very least towards the top of the yr. Rodgers threw for 3,897 yards, which was ok for eighth-best in your entire NFL. He was solely 31 yards behind Patrick Mahomes for seventh.
Rodgers additionally completed eighth in touchdowns with 28 to go together with 11 interceptions. His 11 picks had been fewer than what a number of quarterbacks who led their crew to the playoffs — Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and Jared Goff, simply to call a couple of — put up.
It is also solely truthful to keep in mind that Rodgers did open the yr recovering from his Achilles harm that he suffered a couple of performs into the 2023 season.
And after the Steelers added DK Metcalf and traded away George Pickens, a veteran like Rodgers might be the proper individual to attempt to get probably the most out of the receiver room as an entire.
However most significantly, when attempting to contextualize the Steelers’ resolution to signal Rodgers, there’s an argument that he was one of the best accessible in a reasonably weak market. Rodgers additionally will not attempt to dangle round too lengthy resulting from his superior age, so everybody concerned ought to be on the identical web page, figuring out he is only a bridge possibility till Pittsburgh can discover its next franchise guy.
Merely put, Rodgers is an upgrade, granted solely a short lived one, from what the Steelers have had lately.
Cons
The issue with signing Rodgers extends far past what goes on between the traces. The complete Rodgers expertise is barely partly about soccer.
Whereas there is a legitimate argument that he’ll nonetheless be higher than the choice, there is not any participant who comes with as a lot off-the-field baggage, both.
From his political rants to his weird feedback that flip into headlines to his appearances on “The Pat McAfee Present,” Rodgers is a lightning rod who can not help himself. Many even really feel he is a narcissist who really believes he is the neatest man in each room.
Whether or not HC Mike Tomlin likes it or not, he should handle and juggle Rodgers’ character as a lot, if no more, than teaching him. Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith runs a distinct system from what Rodgers has been used to. He is now tasked with catering his offense to Rodgers and coping with enter from a soccer legend well past his prime.
Will Rodgers enable Tomlin and his workers to teach him? Will Rodgers make soccer his prime precedence? Will Rodgers be capable to restrain himself from producing headlines that may divide a locker room? These are all questions that include the complete Rodgers expertise.
Rodgers could solely be in Pittsburgh for a short while, however he’ll undoubtedly make his presence felt a method or one other.
