Joe Thomas admits he has a rooting bias against the Pittsburgh Steelers’ new-look roster coming together and succeeding. But as someone who was in NFL locker rooms for over a decade, and a player who knows potential dysfunction when he sees it, his unbiased opinion is skeptical of Aaron Rodgers finding magic in 2025. Sharing his thoughts on The Rich Eisen Show Friday, Thomas doesn’t know if the rest of the locker room will respond to Rodgers.
“There’s not many quarterbacks that have had a bad year coming off injury, as they get really old, and their third or fourth teams, that have found really great success,” Thomas told guest co-host Andrew Siciliano.
In his 21st and likely final NFL seasons, Rodgers is hoping to turn back the clock several years. To produce something better than the five-win campaign he led the New York Jets to last season or the Achilles tear that halted his 2023 season four plays into it. Rodgers’ last successful season was 2021, going 13-3 and winning his fourth MVP award. But in football years, that’s a lifetime ago, and quarterbacks typically don’t revive this late in careers.
Even if Rodgers finds his groove, the rest of the locker room has to respond to him. Thomas isn’t convinced that’ll happen, either.
“Really the big question is, can they get locker room buy-in around him?” he said. “Earlier on in his career and even when he went to the Jets, there was a lot of hoopla and it was easy for the veterans and players on the team to buy all-in. This was our lottery ticket, this was our missing piece. He’s going to be the guy taking us to a championship. I think that aura around him is kinda gone at this point.”
Rodgers may be the best quarterback Pittsburgh’s had in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era but his presence did little to convince pundits the Steelers are Super Bowl contenders. Oddsmakers didn’t move Pittsburgh’s chances an inch and analysts like Ryan Clark believe the Divisional Round is as far as the team can go.
In the twilight of his career and getting acclimated to new teammates, Thomas offered advice on how Rodgers can become respected.
“He really needs to humble himself a little bit I think and find a way to get the rest of the locker room to buy into what he’s selling. And to believe yes, he can be the Aaron Rodgers of old. Until he does that, I think they’re going to be a little lukewarm on his presence.”
Teammates have praised Rodgers’ mentality and say he’s “bought in.” The real test will come once the regular season begins and the team faces adversity. That’s when Rodgers’ leadership and how much the locker room hears his message will be revealed.
