The Pittsburgh Steelers need a quarterback. Aaron Rodgers needs a home. It sure looks like a fit on paper, especially if the Steelers want to remain playoff contenders. Making the case Monday was ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, who laid out why it should be the logical solution.
“Maybe the choice they could make that would be out of the box with it if they wanna break this cycle of not winning playoff games is going after Aaron Rodgers,” Barnwell said on NFL Live. “Because the formula of what the Steelers do on offense fits what Rogers does best at this point of his career, which is protect the football. The Steelers 35-13 over the last four years when they turn the ball over zero times or one time in a game. They are 3-16-1 when they turn the ball over twice or more. Everyone’s better when you protect the football. But the Steelers, it’s a significant difference.”
They’re fair points from Barnwell. Protecting the ball is vital for any offense, but it’s often make-or-break for the low-scoring Steelers. Their path to victory has been playing stout defense and limiting mistakes, including turnovers. Not giving the opposition a short field or an extra possession. It’s one reason Pittsburgh’s offense has been so conservative, playing not to lose instead of playing to win.
Historically, there isn’t a quarterback better at taking care of the ball than Rodgers.
“Aaron Rodgers’ last 10 games of the season – 18 touchdowns, just four picks. Again, he’s not the Aaron Rodgers of five, ten years ago, but he can protect the football. He knows where to go for the Steelers.”
Rodgers carries a career 1.4-percent interception percentage, tied with Jacoby Brissett for the lowest in NFL history. Considering Rodgers has thrown over 6,000 more passes than Brissett, it’s fair to give him the tiebreaker. Even though Rodgers isn’t the same player as his MVP prime, his 1.9-percent 2024 interception rate ranked above league average. As Barnwell alluded to, that INT rate dropped to 1.2-percent over his final ten games.
Above all else, Barnwell knows the Steelers don’t have options, and Rodgers, despite retirement speculation, seems intent on suiting up in 2025.
“You don’t really have any path to other alternatives,” he said. “Why not take that swing and try to build your team around the defense and special teams and protecting the football on offense?”
While most pundits have hyper-focused on the dynamic between Mike Tomlin and Aaron Rodgers, Barnwell makes a solid X’s and O’s case: a better quarterback still playing the Steelers’ brand of football. But that assumes Rodgers’ decline doesn’t continue, and his body is able to handle another season. He played all 17 games in 2024 but was clearly impacted by a knee injury.
Rodgers still doesn’t make Pittsburgh a Super Bowl contender, and likely playing just one more season leaves the Steelers in the same position a year from now with zero answers about who their short- or long-term quarterback will be.
