With the Pittsburgh Steelers having put their ‘all-in’ aspirations in the hands of Aaron Rodgers, the former face of the franchise in Ben Roethlisberger, recently felt the need to share his opinions on where Rodgers ranks as a quarterback in today’s league. The two-time Super Bowl champion suggested that he’d rather have a prime version of Rodgers than the current version of Patrick Mahomes, which was seemingly enough to draw the ire of the NFL Hall of Famer, Shannon Sharpe.
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“Does Ben realize how utterly ridiculous he sounds?” Sharpe questioned. In their return to the Nightcap podcast, both Sharpe and his co-host, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, couldn’t help but question the recently aired claims.
According to the Cincinnati Bengals legend, Roethlisberger’s answer was likely a result of him towing the company line for his generation of quarterbacks. However, even though Rodgers may not have been able to “…win the big games consistently like Patrick Mahomes has done,” Ocho was more than understanding of Big Ben’s favoritism towards Rodgers.
“He’s gonna go with someone a little closer to him despite the success and the early-career success that Patrick Mahomes has had. Obviously, Ben knows how great Pat is, but he knows that Rodgers was special despite not having the Super Bowls, only having one. But if you look at Aaron Rodgers’ numbers in his prime, it’s unbelievable.”
In what was one of his first takes since initially taking a break from the show, Sharpe made a concerted effort to set the record straight when it comes to the evaluation of Rodgers career. “People make it seem like Aaron Rodgers did not have good teams,” Sharpe explained. “Go back and look at the receivers that he had.”
Then came another hypothetical,
“Do you believe, the last three Super Bowls [that Mahomes went to,] Aaron Rodgers could have got that receiving group to the Super Bowl? Considering he could only get to the Super Bowl one time with Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, with James Jones… Do you believe he could take that group that Patrick Mahomes took? He couldn’t even… That man couldn’t beat Jimmy Garoppolo!”
The former Denver Bronco made sure to clarify that his statements were predicated on what he believed to be objective truths. Despite the fact that the upcoming 2025 regular season will be just the eighth of Mahomes’ professional career, the recent postseason success of the Kansas City Chiefs has been more than enough to elevate Mahomes past Rodgers in the mind of Sharpe.
“I’ve been one of the loudest Aaron Rodgers fans,” Sharpe cited. “He was phenomenal, but to base it on Patrick Mahomes… Patrick Mahomes, in 21 postseason games, is 17-4 with three Super Bowl wins. Aaron Rodgers, in 22 postseason games, is 12-10 with one Super Bowl win.”
Simply put, G.O.A.T. debates aren’t solely based on MVP awards. For better or worse, Super Bowl rings tend to trump a lot of criticisms.
Mahomes already has three. Should he manage to collect any more, then it may become increasingly difficult to mention anyone else alongside him, other than Brady himself.
