The NFL’s most nagging storyline has ended with the information that Aaron Rodgers is has agreed to signal a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The 41-year-old Rodgers parted methods with the New York Jets earlier this 12 months, and had been linked for a while with the Steelers, who had been with out a longtime starter at quarterback. However Rodgers had given blended alerts about whether or not he desires to proceed his profession.
“I’m in a distinct section of my life,” Rodgers mentioned in April. “To make a dedication to a workforce is a giant factor. And I don’t assume it’s honest to the Steelers or anybody whereas I’m coping with so much off the sphere.”
No matter these points had been seem to have been resolved, however the Steelers is not going to get the model of Rodgers who as soon as reduce a swathe by means of the NFL in his prime with the Inexperienced Bay Packers, successful 4 league MVP awards and a Tremendous Bowl alongside the best way. Rodgers’s tenure with the Jets was transient and rocky. After a torn achilles ended his 2023 debut after simply 4 snaps, he returned in 2024 to start out all 17 video games. Although he threw for 3,897 yards and 28 touchdowns, the Jets completed simply 5-12, and Rodgers ranked outdoors the highest 25 in most effectivity metrics. The workforce sputtered to a 3-7 file in one-score video games.
Rodgers’s hesitation over signing a contract had irritated many across the Steelers, together with Terry Bradshaw, who led the workforce to 4 Tremendous Bowl titles throughout his enjoying profession.
“That’s a joke. That to me is only a joke,” Bradshaw mentioned final month of the Steelers’ extended pursuit of Rodgers. “What are you going to do? Convey him in for one 12 months, are you kidding me?”
With out Rodgers, the Steelers would in all probability have began Mason Rudolph, who lately rejoined the workforce from the Tennessee Titans. Nevertheless, Rudolph was a modest quarterback at finest throughout his first stint with the workforce.
Rodgers will face a well-recognized foe in Week 1 of the upcoming season: Pittsburgh are scheduled to play the Jets of their 2025 opener.
