Aaron Rodgers will be playing for his third different team in the last four years in 2025. Doesn’t that feel weird to say? But it’s true, as he signed on with the Pittsburgh Steelers for one year after his sojourn in New York ended early after two seasons.
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Rodgers also took his time arriving at the decision to join the Steelers. They’d been in contact since mid-March, but only finalized the deal three months later in mid-June. That means Rodgers wasn’t around his teammates during the beginning of the offseason program.
However, he did sign in time for mandatory minicamp, so he’s at least had a couple of days of practice with his new comrades. But is that enough? Retired three-time Super Bowl champ Julian Edelman doesn’t quite think so.
Edelman was recently asked about the Steelers’ prospects, and in response, he said he liked a lot about the team, predicting they would improve on their 2024 campaign. But they won’t go all the way, he added.
“I think they’re gonna be a solid football team. As they always are. I think they’ll be a little better than last year. Do I think they’re gonna win a Super Bowl? No. I love Mike Tomlin, I love the culture, I love the defense. I like Arthur Smith. But how fast can they get that machine going?” Edelman asked.
The big thing Edelman is watching is how quickly Rodgers can mesh with his new teammates. Last year, the star quarterback took some personal time at the start of the offseason program as well. And as Edelman pointed out, the Jets were much better in the second half of the season than they were in the first, when Rodgers was still lacking chemistry with his guys.
“Aaron doesn’t know his teammates at all yet, once again he’s going into another year behind. When he did that last time, they didn’t have a good first eight weeks, and then he turned it on at the end, because he started learning his teammates.”
One important point to note, however, is that while Rodgers just met most of his teammates for the first time a week or two ago, he has been in contact with one specific player throughout most of the offseason: DK Metcalf.
Pittsburgh’s new WR1, whom they acquired via trade in March, was a big reason why Rodgers signed on in the first place, as the two have been exchanging texts and calls. They even got together a few times to work out and run some patterns back in the spring.
So, at least Aaron Rodgers will be on the same page with his top target. And that’s important, because apart from those two guys, there are a lot of question marks on the Steelers offense. How will rookie RB Kaleb Johnson fare? Will the offensive line finally coalesce into a reliable unit? Does Robert Woods have anything left in the tank? Are Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin going to become playmakers?
With all of those uncertainties, we have to agree with Edelman that while this will be a slightly better Steelers team than the one we saw in 2024, it’s certainly not a contender for the big prize.
