The wait for Aaron Rodgers continues. It’s still unclear what his future holds, although it seems like the Pittsburgh Steelers are the only team seriously interested in him. If Rodgers wants to play in 2025, the Steelers might give him his best chance at being competitive. Rich Eisen believes that Rodgers and the Steelers need each other to be successful this season.
“The Steelers need him,” Eisen said Monday on his show. “And if he wants to keep playing, it sure looks like he needs the Steelers. I don’t know what’s going on. It’s like he dipped his toe in by going there and hanging out for a while.
“Then he dipped his toe in by, he needed to personally eyeball DK Metcalf to sell him on the idea. He knows who DK Metcalf is. I think he knows what he could do with someone of DK Metcalf’s caliber. We’re 17 days from the draft, the Steelers sit 21st overall. They’re not going to get Cam Ward. They’re not going to get Shedeur Sanders.”
At this point, it does feel like the Steelers and Rodgers are the only ones on the floor without dance partners. Most other teams are set at quarterback, or plan on addressing the position high in the draft. The Steelers do not have that luxury. The quarterbacks who could come in and immediately help them likely won’t fall to their pick at 21.
The other available free agent quarterbacks aren’t great, either. They probably wouldn’t even be an upgrade over Mason Rudolph. Rodgers is the cream of the crop, and for the Steelers, that means he’s worth waiting for, even though he isn’t the same player he once was.
For Rodgers, it’s unclear what exactly he’s waiting on. Throughout this process, it was reported that the Steelers and the New York Giants were the only teams strongly pursuing Rodgers. Then, the Giants signed Russell Wilson, taking them out of the race for Rodgers.
However, there have also been reports that Rodgers wants to go to the Minnesota Vikings. Right now, it doesn’t seem like the Vikings have interest in Rodgers, but maybe he thinks that could change. If J.J. McCarthy, their young starter, doesn’t impress, they could turn to Rodgers. There’s no telling if that will actually happen, though.
That leaves the Steelers as the only team waiting on Rodgers. It feels like his only option, and he feels like the Steelers’ only option. Both parties likely want to do their best to compete for a championship this season. Their best shot at doing that is probably together. Things could drastically change, but at the moment, it feels like Eisen is hitting the nail on the head.
