Dawgs By Nature
The Jets vs Steelers in Week 1 raised eyebrows as the AFC North wonders what is next for Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh
There are a lot of things about the NFL schedule release that are interesting. Who gets prime-time games, the social media posts from teams, when the bye week lands and when key matchups are placed on the schedule. The league tends to tell teams what it thinks of them in a lot of ways, including telling the Cleveland Browns that the expectations are low, with zero prime-time games.
When the Pittsburgh Steelers were matched up across from the New York Jets on Week 1 of their respective schedules, eyebrows were raised about the future of QB Aaron Rodgers. Would the NFL schedule that matchup for the first week with the hopes that Pittsburgh would have the former Jets starting quarterback going into that game?
Rodgers visited the Steelers for a few hours back in March, but there has been no substantive information or reports since.
Until now.
Speaking on 93.7 The Fan’s PM Team show, Rodgers’ biographer Ian O’Connor, who wrote Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers, had something close to an update on what is next for Rodgers and the Steelers (Transcribed by Steelers Depot):
“I just think verbally, behind the scenes, not that he guaranteed it, but he’s told [the Steelers], ‘Listen, I’m gonna play for you. I just don’t want to go there and then miss part of mandatory minicamp because of my personal issues. I’m pretty sure they’re gonna be solved by the end of May, at least in my satisfaction where I can give you my all.’ So that’s where I think he is.”
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk provided an update on when he expects Rodgers to sign:
Either way, his offseason of mostly silence seems to be moving toward its finish line. Waiting until after the schedule came out seemed to help the Steelers have fewer standalone games. With OTAs starting in only eight days, there’s a very good chance that, by next Sunday, the Steelers will be having a press conference.
So, maybe, the AFC North will know the third out of four starting quarterbacks that will start the 2025 season in the next week or so. The Browns, on the other hand, may not make that decision until cutdown day at the end of training camp.
Do you think Rodgers is still good enough to take the Steelers further than Russell Wilson did? Would it change your expectations for Cleveland’s games against Pittsburgh if the aged Rodgers was the starting QB instead of Mason Rudolph?
Share your thoughts in the comment section below
