It feels like there’s no end in sight in the Steelers’ pursuit of Aaron Rodgers. Now, the Steelers are essentially the only team in the race for Rodgers. The Giants signed two veterans in the past week, and during his press conference on Wednesday, Vikings GM Kwesi Odofo-Mensah made it clear that the team views J.J. McCarthy as its franchise quarterback.
However, Odofo-Mensah didn’t exactly rule Rodgers out, either. Although the Steelers seem to be the only team with an expressed interest in Rodgers, they feel no closer to signing him. Despite that, NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt doesn’t think Rodgers heading to Minnesota is likely.
“It’s just out there,” Brandt said Thursday on Good Morning Football. “It’s too tantalizing of a name [Aaron Rodgers], it’s too much history for Vikings fans. And I’m not even saying it doesn’t make sense. It would make a lot of sense. I think it would have happened if it was going to already. But I don’t think there’s a 0-percent chance, I think there’s a 1-percent chance.”
It was already weird that Rodgers joined the Jets after being in Green Bay, like Brett Favre did. If Rodgers did end up going to Minnesota, it would complete one of the stranger coincidences in recent memory.
Given that J.J. McCarthy was a top-1o pick in 2024, this is a tough situation for Minnesota. He had a chance to beat out Sam Darnold for the starting job there last year, but suffered a season-ending injury in the preseason. Because of that, he’s just hard to evaluate. The Vikings have only seen him play a couple of drives in one preseason game.
It’s entirely possible that Minnesota would plan to just wait until the summer if it has any interest in Rodgers. The Steelers would hope to take Rodgers off the market by then, but with how long they’re already waiting, they can’t feel extremely comfortable in that possibility
It’s worth noting that when Favre went to the Vikings, it didn’t happen until just a few weeks before the regular season began. Rodgers could wait until then. He may be having communication with the Vikings that we don’t know about, but from what’s been reported, there’s no significant interest in Rodgers from the Vikings right now. The Giants’ QB position is already filled as well. With that in mind what is stopping him from signing in Pittsburgh?
If Rodgers wants to be a Viking more than a Steeler, he’ll wait as long as possible. In that case, the Steelers would likely just take a QB in the draft, if they can. The Rodgers saga is a long, confusing one, that the Steelers hope will wrap up soon.
