When the talking heads are talking about Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, you know where we are. We are near the end of the road—and so is the future Hall of Famer, if 2024 is anything to go by. But Albert Breer found himself playing the what-if game with Dan Patrick yesterday, musing over the possibilities.
Aaron Rodgers signed with the New York Jets in 2023 and was supposed to make them division favorites. A torn Achilles sabotaged those plans, and after he returned this season, he looked like a shadow of himself. He certainly looked that way playing against the Steelers. But in Breer’s mind, that could be why he wants this.
“Do you think he wants to go out like this? This is worse than the Achilles, isn’t it?”, he opined. “How would he look in Pittsburgh?”. The Jets are not likely to keep Aaron Rodgers after this season. The Steelers have to figure out what they’re going at quarterback, too. Will they just run it back with Russell Wilson or perhaps Justin Fields? Or will the Steelers explore all of their options—including trying to sign a potentially highly motivated Rodgers?
“I think it’s also possible that he has a Brett Favre hair across his ass”, Breer said of Rodgers’ predecessor in Green Bay. “You could see a Vikings year for Favre from Rodgers somewhere else. I don’t think it’s impossible that maybe one last time he wants to come back and put everything into it”.
Favre also happened to play for the Jets before finding his final team. Could Aaron Rodgers do the same with the Steelers? You know he and Mike Tomlin have always had a mutual respect, as we have seen during games. And Breer believes he would be better equipped to handle Rodgers’ ego than any other coach.
And the thing is, the Steelers may not have any highly desirable quarterback options. With the way Wilson is playing lately, is he really worse than Rodgers? Are you really convinced you can fix Justin Fields all the way? And this draft class?
“If you’re a team that needs a quarterback right now, and you’re looking at the draft…Do you love Shedeur Sanders?”, Breer asked, a question the Steelers may have to ask as well. “Do you love Cam Ward? I feel like this year’s class in the draft is closer to the ’22 class, the [Kenny] Pickett class”.
The Steelers, of course, partook in the Kenny Pickett class, which is how they ultimately ended up with Russell Wilson. Would they even want to consider dipping into another weaker quarterback class? If not, then that’s the only way I could see them even entertaining Aaron Rodgers. And, of course, those quarterbacks will be long gone by the time the Steelers draft.
