A Letter From the Editor: Aaron Rodgers won’t alter the Steelers plan
At this juncture of the offseason the Pittsburgh Steelers fan base feels like a beaten and battered bunch, crawling desperately to the NFL Draft in hopes of having something to discuss other than Aaron Rodgers’ future.
Will he sign? Will he choose another team like the New Orleans Saints? Will he retire?
It is has been an exhausting offseason for that reason, and plenty more, and fans want to know what is going on with the team heading into the 2025 draft just days away. I was fortunate to be able to catch up with our source the other day, and he was able to shine some light on all the Steelers plan entails.
According to our source, who I trust wholeheartedly, the Steelers are not concerned whatsoever in what the public opinion is of the organization and their patience with Rodgers. They simply don’t care what anyone thinks of them, they’ll wait as long as they can on his decision.
With that being said, it is important to note our source would continue to say what Rodgers does, or doesn’t do, won’t impact the team’s plans heading into the draft.
Yes, you read that right, whether Rodgers signs or doesn’t, the Steelers won’t have to make any adjustments to their draft plan in any way. In other words, they aren’t going to give Rodgers a deadline which might somehow alter their thoughts of drafting a quarterback. If they want to draft a quarterback, they’ll do so whether Rodgers is under contract or still floating somewhere in the ether.
When I got off the phone, I thought about what our source had conveyed to me and what it might mean for the organization. First, the Steelers drafting a quarterback becomes extremely likely when you take the aforementioned information and the fact Omar Khan said the team will head into training camp with the accustomed four quarterbacks. Right now they have two, Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson, and will need to add two more. Expect a quarterback at some point in this draft, the who and the when is the difficult part of the conversation.
The other aspect of this news which hit home was the fact that if the Steelers draft plans won’t be impacted by Rodgers, don’t think there will be some deadline placed on him for the start of Round 1. When Mike Tomlin said at the league owners’ meetings the deadline might just be training camp, I don’t think he was kidding around.
Would the Steelers like to know Rodgers’ plans? Of course they would, we all would, but the team is also going to be patient and let him make up his mind. If he doesn’t sign, they’ll have already signed Mason Rudolph and most likely have a rookie in place to compete in the 2025 season. If he does sign, they’ll have the four quarterbacks ready for training camp Khan spoke about in Florida two weeks ago.
For many, this news is disheartening on many levels. They want a deadline imposed on Rodgers, and also might not want the Steelers to even entertain a quarterback in this 2025 crop. Either way, what is said before the draft is always different than what happens during the 3-day selection process.
Things can change, and the Steelers might end up not taking a quarterback in this year’s draft, and Rodgers might end up making a decision sooner, rather than later. Either way, there will be plenty to discuss surrounding the Steelers as draft day in Green Bay, Wisconsin quickly approaches.
I talk about this more on my Friday “Let’s Ride” podcast, which can be heard in the player below:
The Steelers look at it as Rodgers being a bonus if he joins them but not necessary moving forward. If it’s an upgrade that comes along at some point, then that’s great. If not, roll with Mason. Fans may or may not agree with it, but there’s nothing wrong with it.
Dave, is this truly the organization’s viewpoint, or the view of a certain subset of the organization? Whole thing is a bloody shame to me. As you say, folks may
have their own opinion. Anyhow, here’s hoping to the Steelers’ achievment of their best level of sucess for the coming ’25-’26 season, come what may
.
That’s exactly the way I view the entire situation at this point.
I think we’re just flat worn out this offseason with the subject of QB’s. Last season showed us middling results from the guys we had and it’s not like the FO made a hard decision on who they’d prefer from last year. Enter the offseason and it looked like for the longest time that youth would win out, but without knowing what the FO knew, youth and experience left for supposed greener pastures seemingly without a commitment. Enter free agency and serviceable Rudolph returns and the drama of Rodgers. Be interesting to see fan polls taken in January vs now. I’d bet Mason gets the lion share of support and putting hope in the draft for BPA….I think if Pickett didn’t happen, we’d be hoping for a Sanders or a Dart…
“if Pickett didn’t happen”
That would be an interesting rabbit hole to investigate further…
Facts. That’s some spilt milk under the bridge.
I’ll bite here……. If the organization’s Pick of Mr. Pickett hadn’t been the colossal, utter, disaster that it turned out to be, we’d 100% be angling to see if we can move up just a bit to get Jaxson Dart. Biggest need at the ABSOLUTE most important position…… 🤷♂️
ton Stlck, and Carson Wentz. Any of these fellows could compete with Mason, perhaps one could be willing to serve as a backup from jump, I don’t know. These fellows may or may not be in the Steelers’ plans. It seems to me the Steelers may select a DT with an early choice to serve in the DL rotation and eventually replace Cam. It also seems to me the Steelers may select a RB with an early choice to serve in the RB rotation and perhaps on KO returns (Patterson was attrocious on returns). Any of these routes could work out well, or turn into utter diaster. We’ll see as there’s some complexity here, not the least of which is what happens around the Steelers’ picks. Heck, maybe Dart will become the next Drew Brees. I remember Bradshaw achieving mediocre-level QB play in only six seasons of hard work. Paraphrasing “Ratatouille”, only the fearless can beco
me great.
Actually, that IS a really great rabbit hole. I think it goes well beyond the draft of this year, though- If they did not take Pickett, would they have attempted a massive FA trade instead? Who would have been available to them? Actually- Mason would have been #2 behind Trubisky, right? When he got injured, would Mason have come in and performed better or worse than Kenny did? Even one more win meant they make the playoffs that year and draft way lower and even further away from a great qb in 2023. I think no Kenny means there absolutely have to have been a big, big move either for a veteran or trading the farm for a qb in that draft. Who would it have been? What players would the Steelers not have now if a trade for a big FA or to move up high enough to draft one occurred? IMO, this is a revisionist history article just beginning to be written…hint, hint.
I get the message lol
It’s difficult to accept that the Steelers front office wouldn’t approach the NFL Draft differently with Rodgers under contract than with him still undecided. Having an accomplished, starting QB in the fold obviously defers the need to draft a candidate this year as a potential, franchise QB. But of course any organization is going to deny being influenced by external factors — even when it’s obvious that surely they must adapt to circumstances.
As highly as I regard the impressive capabilities and career accomplishments of Aaron Rodgers, I’m not convinced that he’s still serious about football and honestly wants to wrap up his career by helping a team to win. Tom Brady went to Tampa Bay and won a Super Bowl at the end of his career — not only for the money, but because the game was still important to him and he still wanted to compete. But Rodgers gives the impression that he’s merely fishing around and doesn’t care where (or even if) he plays. Rodgers appears to be a guy who, at this stage, expects everything to unfold strictly on his own terms. And this attitude seems directly opposed to what we know about the Steelers ownership.
So if it’s true that the Steelers organization intends to march strictly to its own drummer, then we should expect the team to make a move fairly soon which takes Rodgers out of the conversation. You won’t find many Steelers fans thrilled by the prospect of watching a full season with Mason Rudolph at QB. So something obviously needs to be done to give fans some hope that we won’t be watching another rerun of the team’s past three seasons.
I concur, Bill. Well said.
I don’t think Steelers’ Nation is as sour on Rudolph as you think…
https://x.com/TimBenzPGH/status/1910357337514090702
(There is a Twitter link above here to a Twitter poll by Tim Benz but it’s black on black unless you scroll over it)
I think the approach is they know IF Rodgers does play for the Steelers in 2025, it’s a one-year deal no matter what. In that sense, it shouldn’t impact how they approach the draft considering he’ll only be on the roster for 2025.
I sincerely hope the Rodgers outcome doesn’t alter their draft plan at QB, but I can’t help but think he’s already altered their macro plan. For example, it sure looked to me like they put free agency on a back burner set at simmer as soon as they lost Fields, and entered into whatever the hell this is with Rodgers. He’s held them hostage (as he soooo likes to do) while they watched free agent after free agen sign elsewhere. That can’t have been part of the “plan”.
I’m not sure there was any free agency move which was held up because of Rodgers slow rolling the team. They weren’t going to be that active in that regard due to the plan with compensatory picks.
I seriously think the Steelers are at a point where they’ll draft a QB at some point, and roll with Mason if they have to. Many won’t like that, but it’s just my thoughts on it.
After Sam and Geno signed, QB1 FA quality fell off drastically, such as it was, and Jets did a Jets thing regarding Fields/Steelers chose frugality. Steelers could have done worse than Mason. Just is disappointing that the management’s execution has been poor at worst/inconsistent at best since 2012 or so. Unfortuate as the State of the Steelers is at present, it’s not nearly so bad as when Noll took over from Austin, et.al. Yep, Steelers were guaranteed to pick up some QB–hope
fully that won’t be at the expense of more immediate needs (eg. DL, RB) or perhaps wants (second DL, S, backup G if that’s not S. Anderson or swing T if that’s not C. Anderson/Cook, WR). This stuff is simple, but maybe not so easy to execute. We’ll see.
I concur with JoeB, too. That said, all that can be done now is to best clean up the spilt milk (be it AARod, OL inconsistency/communication, inconstent defensive play, Matusz’ training strategy/practice, and so on) and thoroughly prepare for the draft and the subsquent “in stadium” phase of the season. Dave, opinions? Let us hope that Mason, or whomever else earns QB1 is placed in a position to succeed and that QB1 follows through to that end. Btw Dave, Twitter stinks and polls is polls does. Bless the Steelers, each and every one, even Matusz, all of the other coaches/staff and the front office, too. Heaven knows everyone has their work cut out for them. Ceasing the “shooting themselves in
the foot” crap would be appreciated, too.
.
Latest article I read noted that AARod’s helmet of choice is no longer approved for use by the NFL. Will Rodgers fight the power, appeal for his Schutt Air XP Pro Q11 LTD to be grandfathered in, or hang his cleats up for good?
Wasn’t that an issue with AB when he went to the Raiders too?? lol