Are the Pittsburgh Steelers living out their very own version of quarterback sunk-cost fallacy? Have they committed so heavily to the Aaron Rodgers strategy that they are unwilling to relent and move on with their offseason with another quarterback option?
ESPN’s Dan Graziano sees that as the case for both the Steelers and the New York Giants.
“Right now the Steelers and the Giants are waiting to see what he’ll do. I don’t know what he’s waiting on, I guess he’s waiting on Minnesota. I guess they haven’t fully ruled it out,” Graziano said via ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike this morning. “Until he moves, the Giants and the Steelers are not gonna go to their backup plans.”
If anything, the Giants seem more prepared to move on from the situation based on their multiple other veteran QB visits. Joe Flacco and Russell Wilson have been in for a visit and Jameis Winston is set to visit them today.
Could the Giants moving on create a greater sense of urgency for Rodgers? If his three options are narrowed down to two and one of them (the Vikings) has not expressed full interest in him, could Rodgers decide to sign with the Steelers? On the flipside, if that happens and Rodgers still holds out, could that be a sign that it is Vikings or bust? Could he decide to retire if the Vikings ultimately don’t want to sign him?
It’s an odd situation in which the Steelers have dug themselves a pretty considerable hole to be a part of the Rodgers sweepstakes. According to Chase Daniel, Wilson now feels “some type of way” about the Steelers’ handling of this situation. That doesn’t sound like he is likely to want to come back. If the Giants move on from Rodgers and sign Wilson, then the Steelers are really out of options. You can overpay for Kirk Cousins or settle on a combination of Mason Rudolph and Winston or Flacco.
The Steelers haven’t given the appearance of having a very put-together plan throughout the past week when it comes to the quarterback position. According to Jeremy Fowler, they were “all-in” on Justin Fields. Were they taken off guard that he chose the Jets even after they made the blockbuster trade for DK Metcalf to beef up their receiving corps?
Does their lack of meeting with other quarterbacks, like how the Giants are doing, signal expectations that this Rodgers thing eventually goes their way? Or maybe they have resigned themselves to the fact that Rudolph could be their QB1 for the 2025 season. That would be a tough pill to swallow for veteran players like Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt, who are still hoping to end the franchise’s recent playoff futility.
If the Steelers really don’t plan on moving on until Rodgers makes his decision, we could be in for this sickening news cycle for another month or longer with the NFL draft being the next key pressure point that could spur action.
