WHY?

BY MIKE RIFKIN

According to reports Aaron Rodgers is visiting the Steelers this weekend and by all accounts his intention is to play the 2026 season in Pittsburgh. Last season Rodgers played in 16 games for Pittsburgh and had a 65.7 completion percentage, 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions on the way to another AFC North title for the Steelers. 

But, was Rodgers play really the reason the Steelers won the AFC North? No, it was because the Ravens had an inability to finish games and lost Lamar Jackson for some time, and the Bengals lost Joe Burrow for most of the season. But still in an offseason that has been solid for the Steelers, it still feels like they’re running it back. 

Mike Tomlin is no longer roaming the sidelines, and has been replaced by Mike McCarthy, who Rodgers won a Super Bowl with in Green Bay (ironically enough against the Steelers). The Steelers in the last two years have drafted Will Howard out of Ohio ST, and Drew Allar out of Penn ST. and also have Mason Rudolph under contract. I don’t care about how much the Steelers win in the regular season, Rodgers is not the long term answer at Quarterback. The Steelers have used bandaid after bandaid on the position since Big Ben retired. Why not see what one of these young kids have? Or if you knew Rodgers was coming back, why draft another Quarterback, sure they could trade one if there’s an injury to another team, but Howard and Allar have no value.

When you sign Rodgers it means you’re going all in again, which they did anyway on the McCarthy hire. But when you take a look across the AFC, Rodgers doesn’t put the Steelers over the top, heck we don’t even know if they’ll repeat as division champs. I’d rather learn about one of the young quarterbacks, but the longer the Steelers want to kick this can down the road, the further behind they’ll get and this core is not getting any younger.