Since the start of the NFL’s new league year on March 12, a few things have been consistent on a daily basis. The sun rises in the East, it sets in the West, and a new update on the Aaron Rodgers free agency saga emerges daily. It simply never fails. And just when we thought we were out—like Al Pacino in The Godfather III—the polarizing QB pulls us right back in.
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For NFL fans who have been living under a rock this month, here’s the lowdown. Rodgers didn’t see much interest across the league, apart from the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, neither of which he fancied. Both teams sent in offers, but Rodgers left them on read, as he attempted to swindle a move to a much more talented Minnesota Vikings outfit. A few days after the Vikes publicly backed out of the Rodgers pursuit, the QB was seen at the Steelers’ facility.
Game over, right? Wrong. Rodgers left Pittsburgh without signing the deal they’d sent him so many days prior. Revered head coach Mike Tomlin was apparently a driving force in the pursuit of Rodgers, but that was not enough to persuade Rodgers to sign. As Colin Cowherd theorized, Rodgers could be waiting for another opportunity with a better quality team… Like, say, his boyhood favorites, the San Francisco 49ers?
“I think Aaron Rodgers is waiting on the Niners, Brock Purdy. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Aaron needs to go on another darkness retreat. The Steelers is fool’s gold, Tomlin can’t figure out the offense, it’s been seven years, forget about it,” the analyst said with firm conviction.
It would seem that the only reason Aaron Rodgers is really entertaining the offensively deficient Steelers is that the only other team chasing him is the Giants, and they’re even worse. Multiple reports said he “really wanted” that offer from the Vikings. Cowherd speculated that it had a lot to do with Minnesota’s QB-whispering coach, Kevin O’Connell.
Now that the Vikings are out, he could be looking to join a team with a similar head coach. Why not join the father of this modern age of NFL offenses, Kyle Shanahan?
Rodgers grew up in Chico, California, just a three-hour drive north of the Bay. He was a massive 49ers fan, and he held a grudge against them for some time after they passed on him in the 2005 draft. With Brock Purdy’s extension still up in the air, is this the time to bury the hatchet?
“Multiple reports said he really wanted the Vikings offer. Why? Because of Kevin O’Connell, and when you see those pictures in Malibu when he’s listening to stuff, I think he’s sitting there thinking: Minnesota would’ve been great. I know the division, I love the coach, and I love their weapons,” Cowherd prodded on.
“The organization is key, not just the personnel. Once Minnesota said no thanks, I think San Francisco’s something to keep your eye on.”
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San Francisco has had a major contract hanging over their heads in seemingly every offseason over the last five years. Now that Purdy’s up to bat, major decisions need to be made about the QB. If they give him the deal, Aaron Rodgers will have to settle for Pittsburgh or New York.
But, the longer the 49ers take to make that decision, the longer Rodgers is likely to wait on making his, leaving the Giants and Steelers in limbo.
Don’t be surprised to see one of those two teams take Shedeur Sanders in the first round if Rodgers still hasn’t signed by draft day.
