Former Pittsburgh Steelers S Ryan Clark has made his feelings known over the past few weeks about what he thinks the Steelers should do in 2025. Clark believes they should want to struggle to put themselves in position to get a high draft pick, but with the team in the mix for free agent QB Aaron Rodgers, Clark believes Rodgers puts the Steelers on a trajectory that’s been all too familiar: good enough to compete, but not good enough to compete for Super Bowls. On ESPN’s First Take this morning, Clark said that he wonders when the Steelers will ever look to be better than “middle of the road.”
“I believe if you have Aaron Rodgers, it’s realistic for this team to be competing to be a game above .500. I do believe it’s a good enough team to win eight or nine games. And when you think about Mike Tomlin’s history as the head coach, there at least that every single year,” Clark said.
“This team could be good enough. But isn’t that why Pittsburgh Steelers fans lament the Mike Tomlin tenure, because so much on the back half of this has just been good enough? When do you make a decision that allows you to be better than that? Better than middle of the road?”
Pittsburgh not being able to get over the hump has been an issue for too long. Dating back to the end of Ben Roethlisberger’s career, the Steelers have been in a position where they can do what they need to do to make the playoffs but not win in the postseason. While Rodgers would be an upgrade over what the Steelers have at quarterback right now, the 41-year-old isn’t the player he once was and won’t be a cure-all for the Steelers’ problems.
There are still holes on offense, particularly behind DK Metcalf at wide receiver, and there are questions about whether the defense upgraded enough after struggling to end the season last year. Even with Rodgers, it’s hard to envision the Steelers being better than a 10-win team, and if they do have similar results to the past few years, it’s not going to make it easy to draft a top quarterback in 2026. While the team will have plenty of draft picks it can use as ammo to move up in the draft, the past few years the Steelers have committed to just being good enough to try and get a playoff win and haven’t embraced the idea of rebuilding.
It’s an organization with a rich history of winning, and it’s understandable that the Steelers wouldn’t look to be a team that loses to try and better themselves for the future. But Clark is right that for too long, the Steelers have just been a middle-of-the-road team. They’re competitive and they’ll make the playoffs, but when Wild Card Weekend ends, the Steelers’ season ends too.
Signing Rodgers gets the Steelers to a point where they can make the playoffs again, and the hope is that Rodgers will rebound after 2024 and be the type of quarterback who can help Pittsburgh win when it matters. It might hurt their draft pick, but it shouldn’t affect their plans to draft their quarterback of the future, though it could make it harder to get one of the top passers in the draft.
Ryan Clark’s frustration is understandable, and it’s one that’s shared by many who have watched this team over the past few years. But the organizational philosophy isn’t going to shift, and the Steelers are going to continue to try and win every season, even if it could come at the expense of their future success.
