Throughout his nearly 40-minute appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers reiterated time and time again that he’s not really thinking about football at the moment and is in no rush to make a decision regarding his NFL future, stating that he doesn’t believe he owes anyone anything.
Within that conversation, Rodgers sounded more like he was leaning toward retirement than actually wanting to play football.
For former NFL GM and current ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum, who appeared on Get Up Friday morning, things seem like Steelers and Rodgers are “a million miles away” from a resolution one way or the other, which has to be frustrating for the Steelers, especially team owner and president Art Rooney II.
“What Graz [Dan Graziano] just said from a GM’s perspective, Coach [Bill] Parcells’ words were reverberating. When a player’s talking about being retired, they are retired. That did not sound like a person that was prepared to be a starting NFL quarterback and the rigors of a 17-game season, which is fine. It’s over,” Tannenbaum said of Rodgers, according to video via ESPN. “If I’m the Steelers, it is over. We’re moving on.”
Moving on is what the Steelers should do, especially after that interview. It’s understandable that Rodgers has a lot going on in his personal life that he’s focused on, but the Steelers have an obligation to the men on their roster who are all set to show up in Pittsburgh on Monday for the start of the offseason.
They need to have a better understanding of what the immediate future is going to look like at quarterback, especially leading up to the draft. And if Rodgers isn’t ready to make a decision and even admittedly isn’t even thinking about football all that much, then it doesn’t sound like he’s going to be a Steeler anytime soon.
Longtime radio host and ESPN analyst Alan Hahn countered Tannenbaum’s belief that Rodgers doesn’t want to play, stating that he wants to play, but he seems like a guy that wants a team to beg him to play. That isn’t something the Steelers aren’t going to do, hence why they’ve given him time and space to make his decision.
Tannenbaum just can’t see Rodgers wanting to play and thinks he and the Steelers are so far apart from a vision aspect of wanting to compete for championships.
“I know what it’s like to talk to a player that wants to come and try to help compete for a championship. What he said yesterday had nothing to do with something like somebody that wants to do that,” Tannenbaum said of Rodgers. “Here’s what’s interesting to me. Art Rooney…at the league meeting, talked about we think something’s imminent. We think something’s likely.
“An owner slash president doesn’t come out and say that unless they really feel that way. Juxtapose that to what Aaron Rodgers said yesterday, I think we’re a million miles away from this guy wanting to be a Steeler.”
That certainly seems to be the case. That’s how Rodgers’ comments sounded on Thursday during his McAfee Show appearance. Though he spoke highly of his meeting with the Steelers and praised quite a few people within the organization, he still isn’t ready to make a decision, and who knows how long this will drag out.
If they’re a million miles apart like Tannenbaum believes, then it’s time for the Steelers to pivot and move on. This has dragged on long enough.
