There has already been plenty of movement at the QB position just a day and a half into the league’s tampering period ahead of the new league year on Wednesday. But Aaron Rodgers has not been part of that movement. It appears that 29 teams have either their starting QB or QB competition set for 2025.
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Guys Rodgers would have considered far beneath him earlier in his career, like Sam Darnold, Geno Smith, and Justin Fields, have all found new homes already while the former Packer continues to flap in the wind. His only real options at this point are the Cleveland Browns, the New York Giants, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. None of those are all that exciting, though the Steelers seem to make the most sense from a “win-now” perspective.
Rodgers had his pick of the litter when departing the Green Bay Packers. Just two years later, he’s the last kid picked for the game in the schoolyard. That fact should scare Rodgers. It should, as Shannon Sharpe put it, serve as a real “wake-up call” as to where the 41-year-old stands in the league at this point in his career.
“Look at how many quarterbacks moved, and one of the last ones to move is a four-time league MVP, a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. That should tell him everything he needs to know. If this is not a wake-up call for Aaron Rodgers, I don’t know what is!” said the former tight end on Nightcap.
Reacting to this, co-host Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson said that he would actually be “scared” to be in Aaron Rodgers’ shoes right now. He was once the belle of the ball, but now his agents are having to reach out to lowly teams like the Giants to get the QB’s foot in the door. If he wants to keep playing, the polarizing figure needs to get back in “the good graces” of the league.
“You have to find a way to get in the good graces of the NFL in general. Letting them know, ‘I don’t have the leverage I used to have, things are a little bit different now, the game is getting younger, I’m not the same four-time All-Pro I used to be.’ … It would scare me, honestly,” Ocho said.
“It would scare me… An NFL in which I dominated for a very long time, and I had leverage for a very long time, I no longer have that leverage. They no longer need me.”
The Browns haven’t made a QB decision yet, but they have not been linked with Aaron Rodgers at any point. The Giants, meanwhile, have been linked early and often this offseason. Rodgers would come in and start for a big market team that’s not ready to win. How did that work out across town with the Jets? He’s probably not trying to sign on for a rebuilding effort. Rodgers needs support, and a lot of it, at this point in his career.
Pittsburgh could provide that. And, as Sharpe pointed out, it “might be their only move” at this point after bungling the Justin Fields situation. The Steelers have a great complement of offensive weapons and are likely to draft a running back in the first two days of the draft. They also have a young and promising offensive line.
The Steelers will be a run-first team, which takes some pressure off of Rodgers. The defense should be solid again, too. If Rodgers can rediscover anything like his 2021 MVP form, it would be a huge win for both player and team.
