The free agent signing period officially starts today at 4 PM/ET, and the Pittsburgh Steelers still have yet to sign their 2025 starting quarterback. The QB market moved quickly on the first day of legal tampering, but it’s come to a screeching halt as Aaron Rodgers decides where he wants to go among the Steelers, New York Giants, and (maybe) the Minnesota Vikings.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio has been weighing in on these negotiations for the last couple of days to try to decipher what is holding things up. On paper, the Steelers are clearly the best option. Florio thinks that money has been the issue as the Steelers attempt to keep things “cheap” at the quarterback position. He thinks Gerry Dulac’s report yesterday confirmed it all.
“His tweet went something like, ‘Russell Wilson could still return to the Steelers if the talks between Aaron Rodgers and the team reached a financial impasse,'” Florio said via Pro Football Talk on YouTube. “Of course Russell Wilson would be an option if Rodgers doesn’t sign. The real news, there was clear and complete confirmation that the Steelers and Rodgers are negotiating and, and it’s not going well.”
Florio speculated on Monday night in what he called a semi-educated guess that Rodgers would be roughly worth a two-year, $90 million deal. That seems like a lot of money, and it obviously is, but that would place him in a tie for the 12th highest-paid QB in the league. Even at 41 years old, that isn’t unreasonable for a future Hall of Famer with his pedigree. His 2024 play wasn’t great, but he played well toward the end of the season and can clearly still throw the ball.
As the salary cap increases, so do the quarterback contracts. Whether or not paying Rodgers that much is a good idea for the Steelers is a different conversation, but that is roughly what he is worth according to the market.
“Why didn’t it happen [Tuesday]? Because they have a gap,” Florio said. “I don’t know how big the gap is, but it’s big enough to prevent it from being bridged immediately. And we’ll see which side, if either, bends. Do they each bend a little bit? They need each other, but I think each side looks at it and says, ‘You need me more than I need you.'”
For Rodgers, his leverage would be the Giants’ presence in these negotiations. And if the Vikings really are interested, that is added leverage. Even if the Giants are offering more money, they can’t guarantee him the stability to play the final years of his career like the Steelers would be able to. If the Steelers know that winning and his legacy are what’s driving and motivating him to continue, then they would be the better bet over the Giants.
The Steelers have the presence of Russell Wilson as leverage, and they have a great situation for a quarterback to step into. They can point to their playoff berths the last two seasons and say something along the lines of look at what we were able to accomplish without a high-end quarterback. Rodgers would have a real chance to compete in the playoffs for a year or two to finish his career. And they just added DK Metcalf alongside George Pickens to boost their passing game.
It’s a tricky situation for both sides, and Wilson is also drawing interest elsewhere. If Wilson signs elsewhere before Rodgers decides, the Steelers lose a lot of leverage and put themselves in a very tough situation.
