Winners and losers of Aaron Rodgers' deal with Steelers? Oh so many questions
After 85 days – though it felt quite a bit longer – Aaron Rodgers’ first experience as an NFL free agent ended Thursday, black and gold smoke finally emanating from Pittsburgh as he officially agreed to sign with the Steelers for the 2025 season, pending a physical, and became their quarterback of the very immediate future.
Even at 41, Rodgers could bring a level of stability behind center the Steelers haven’t enjoyed since well before Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement in 2022 – which occurred five years after Pittsburgh’s most recent postseason victory. Yet, depending on how the circumstances unfold, Rodgers might be anything but a calming presence. Either way, the upcoming campaign should be a compelling one in the Steel City, which could experience a whole host of winners and losers – we think, hence the question marks? – with its latest graybeard passer coming to town:
WINNERS
Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin?
They’d had something of a long-distance bro-mance years before they officially teamed up … and before Tomlin, always one to turn a phrase, exclaimed “there's no substitute for intimacy” following Rodgers’ visit to the Steelers’ facility in March. It remains to be seen how their transition from mutual admirers to direct collaborators goes, but what has either man got to lose? Neither has appeared in a Super Bowl since the 2010 season, when Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers barely got the better of Tomlin’s Steelers – and they could certainly be mutually supporting the other’s protracted quest to secure a second ring (if we don’t count the one Tomlin won as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002). Rodgers was about as good a veteran option as Tomlin could have hoped for following the Russell Wilson Experience in 2024, while the Steelers were probably Rodgers’ best hope all along – given the Vikings never swiped right – to allow him to conclude his career in a manner he deems fitting after getting unceremoniously dumped by the New York Jets in February.
Minnesota Vikings?
It had to be tempting. Right? Minnesota’s brass continues to – understandably – say glowing things about 2024 first-round QB J.J. McCarthy, whose rookie season ended before it began due to a preseason meniscus injury. But there’s no denying that McCarthy is an unknown professional commodity, and that a team coming off a 14-3 season – thanks in large part to departed Pro Bowl QB Sam Darnold's inspired play – and with a roster juiced at just about every other position is taking a risk. But rather than replicating Brett Favre’s Packers-Jets-Vikings career-ending path – and how amped up would the already spicy Green Bay rivalry have been by injecting Rodgers back into it? – HC Kevin O’Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah are doing right by McCarthy, putting him on the field with the loaded supporting cast any young passer should have before being asked to shoulder too heavy a burden. Right? Because McCarthy couldn’t possibly be the second coming of Christian Ponder. Right?
Cam Heyward?
The Steelers' longtime captain openly wondered earlier this spring why it was taking Rodgers so long to sign on. (Per the quarterback, there were extenuating circumstances as he subsequently revealed people close to him were battling cancer.) However, with Rodgers now ready to make an ironclad commitment to the Steel City, Heyward − the son of Ironhead − should have at least some renewed optimism that he could somehow play in his first Super Bowl as his 15th NFL season approaches. Low a bar as it is, Rodgers at least provides better odds than Wilson or Mason Rudolph or Skylar Thompson.
STEALERS? Jets may have the QB Pittsburgh actually needed
Will Howard?
After mismanaging the quarterback position for at least a half-dozen years – including the spiraling portion of Big Ben’s career – Pittsburgh at least had one (side?) eye on the future in April, drafting the Ohio State star in the sixth round. And given Howard is likely shooting for the QB3 job here behind Rodgers and Rudolph, he could soak up some wisdom given Rodgers' willingness to mentor Jordan Love in Green Bay and Zach Wilson with the Jets.
Calvin Austin III and Pat Freiermuth?
Could the Steelers’ slot receiver and tight end, respectively, wind up getting the predominant target share from Rodgers, who tended to thrower shorter passes and typically between the hashes last season – often getting rid of the ball in a hurry rather than inviting more abuse onto his aging frame? Don’t be surprised if it's the case – and it might be a coup for Austin as he enters a contract year.
LOSERS
NFL schedule makers?
Not that the Steelers aren’t a national draw regardless of circumstances and typically featured in prime time, but the league has to be rueing the lost opportunity to fully maximize the Rodgers factor. Look no further than the Jets’ 2024 schedule, when they played in exclusive broadcast slots in six of their first nine contests – just long enough to get a heaping helping of Rodgers before he piloted New York into irrelevance. The 2025 Steelers are currently scheduled to play four prime-time games and will also host the league's first regular-season offering in Ireland. However their Week 1 matchup against those very same Jets will kick off at 1 p.m. ET in the Meadowlands. Bummer.
Pat McAfee
If the erstwhile Indianapolis Colts punter turned ESPN multimedia superstar can't get Rodgers, allegedly his buddy, to break the news of his signing on "The Pat McAfee Show," then how close are these guys? Really?
FOUR-PART PLAN: Tasks the Steelers must still accomplish
Kirk Cousins
Now relegated to QB2 duties with the Atlanta Falcons, who are poised to pay him $27.5 million in 2025 to sit the bench, Cousins had to be hoping as 10 days turned into 20 turned into 40 turned into 80, that just maybe he'd have an opportunity to fill the QB1 job vacancy in Pittsburgh. But now that Rodgers has decided to join? Well, Cousins can't like that ... especially given the apparent lack of other viable destinations for him to play.
DK Metcalf?
Will a wideout who typically does most of his damage as an outside deep threat defeating man-to-man coverage grow frustrated playing with Rodgers, especially given their combustible on-field personas and the QB's growing tendency to stay inside the numbers? (And how does Rodgers' propensity to telegraph shade at teammates who don’t run routes to his specifications factor into this relationship?) Don’t be surprised, despite Rodgers' private workouts with Metcalf, if trouble brews.
Arthur Smith
The playbook of Pittsburgh’s offensive coordinator has generally worked best when he has an athletic quarterback who operates a run-heavy attack that’s also reliant on play action and a healthy mix of deep shots to physical receivers. But instead of re-signing Justin Fields, the Steelers wound up with Rodgers, who tends to have his own way of doing things, so ...
RFK Jr.
After considering Rodgers as a running mate for his failed 2024 presidential bid, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – now the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services – will have to continue waiting to sign the quarterback who was infamously "immunized" against COVID-19 but wasn’t vaccinated. Yeah, they seem like a good fit as Kennedy amplifies his anti-vax agenda. Rodgers will have to wait to become the food dye czar.
Mason Rudolph
After returning from his one-year exile in Nashville, he was getting so close to starting for the Steelers, for whom he's 8-4-1 as a sub over the course of his six seasons with the franchise. Heck, RFK Jr.'s boss, Donald Trump, recently opined at a Western Pennsylvania rally that Rudolph, who attended the event, would be the guy for the Steelers. But who knows given Rudolph is still just one torn Achilles away.
Pittsburgh fans?
They've long been told by Tomlin that "The standard is the standard" – but have known for five decades that that means Lombardi Trophies. Yet the organization's "Stairway to Seven" has been under construction for 16 years – since Tomlin, Roethlisberger and Co. prevailed over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl 43. But can Rodgers really add any meaningful steps at this stage? The last time Steelers fans saw him in person – this past October in Acrisure Stadium – he was picked off twice in a 37-15 loss, which almost certainly won't make him an easy sell as a savior.
Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin?
Can you imagine their press conferences if this thing goes sideways? Tomlin has famously never had a losing season in his 18 years at the helm of this storied club, yet he owns a six-game losing streak in the playoffs going back to the 2016 campaign. As for Rodgers? He’s lost 22 of his past 36 regular-season starts, which doesn’t include three defeats in his past four postseason appearances. Given how much will be expected of this shotgun marriage, there’s quite a risk that this duo’s codependency devolves into an unfortunate union that might even send both up the Three Rivers.
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