The Pittsburgh Steelers had the chance to pick any quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft—aside from Cam Ward—and chose to pass. With ongoing uncertainty surrounding the quarterback room both for this season and beyond, the decision left some puzzled. According to one NFL insider, they are staying the course and leaning into Aaron Rodgers for 2025 with sights set on drafting a quarterback in the first round next year.
“In talking to sources about this situation, I don’t get the sense the Steelers are as concerned about their quarterback room as everyone else,” Dan Graziano wrote via ESPN this morning. “First of all, they remain optimistic that Rodgers will sign and be their starter, and that he’ll play better than he did last season for the Jets now that he’s one year further removed from his 2023 Achilles injury.”
The possibility of Rodgers retiring remains, but multiple people who know him have said they don’t expect that to happen after a tough season last year in New York. If he does play, the Steelers seem like the only real option. Art Rooney II has expressed confidence in Rodgers eventually signing multiple times now, including during the draft a couple weeks ago.
Achilles injuries are difficult to come back from as it is, but especially so at 40 years old. If Rodgers has anything left in the tank, it’s reasonable to expect him to look better in 2025 than he did toward the beginning of 2024. He actually played pretty well at the end of last season with a 64.2 completion percentage and 1,270 passing yards, nine TDs and three INTs over the Jets’ final five games.
There was adequate talent surrounding Rodgers in New York, but the team overall was dysfunctional with head coach Robert Saleh being fired in the middle of the season. Arthur Smith and the Steelers provide a much more established culture and system to succeed in.
Beyond Rodgers, Graziano says the Steelers are confident in Mason Rudolph. The last time he played for the team, he led the Steelers to a 3-1 record over the final four games of the season, including their Wild Card playoff loss at the end of the 2023 season.
Rudolph didn’t play well in his limited opportunities with the Tennessee Titans last season, but they ended up with the No. 1 overall draft pick for a reason. The talent around him was abysmal.
It seems like the plan all along was to pursue a quarterback in 2026 when the draft class is expected to be a little stronger. Rooney said at the beginning of the offseason that the Steelers would look for a quarterback either in this year’s draft or the next. With their stockpile of 2026 draft picks, they are clearly angling to address the future of the position next offseason.
Their lack of panic strongly suggests that Aaron Rodgers will eventually sign, whether that is before OTAs in a couple weeks or ahead of mandatory minicamp next month. Everything is going according to plan, even if it seems directionless without a clear QB1 in the middle of May.
