For the fourth straight year, the Pittsburgh Steelers have some major decisions to make at the QB position in 2025. Both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are free agents. The overwhelming belief is that the organization has already moved on from Wilson, mentally at least. They were hoping to get Fields to return on a team-friendly deal, but things haven’t quite worked toward that.
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Tom Pelissero reported on Monday that it’s been a few days since the Steelers have had an offer out for Fields. But the signal caller’s camp has yet to respond. That’s not a great sign, but it could also mean he simply wants to test the free agency waters. The New York Jets are reportedly pursuing him hard and are offering more than Pittsburgh.
With Fields and Plan A looking dicier by the day, Pittsburgh had to pivot to some external options in this mediocre class of free-agent QBs. The name that has emerged as the Steelers’ most likely Plan B if Fields heads to the Jets is New York’s 2024 starter, Aaron Rodgers.
Mike Florio explained that Rodgers was not on Pittsburgh’s radar originally, but circumstances have forced them to consider the 41-year-old.
“I think the Steelers thought they could lowball Justin Fields, and have found out in recent days that’s not gonna work because the Jets want him and the Jets are willing to pay him more than the Steelers will pay him. So the gears then move toward options,” said Florio on Pro Football Talk.
“No Russell Wilson, what about Aaron Rodgers? So the Steelers took a while to come around to it because they thought they’d be able to get Justin Fields,” added Florio.
While it seems the Steelers might settle rather reluctantly for Rodgers, he would likely be ecstatic to land in the Steel City. It seemed like “nobody good” wanted the QB and that if he played in 2025, he’d have to play for a rebuilding outfit like the New York Giants.
Rodgers is not going to be signed by a Super Bowl contender. But a perennial playoff team is a lot better than another 5-12 season in the Big Apple.
“Now that it looks like they’re gonna lose Fields, and they really, when it’s ‘nut-cutting time’, as Jason Garrett would say, they don’t want Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers makes a ton of sense,” explained Florio.
“When we were at the Combine, Rodgers had reached out to the Giants. The big takeaway was nobody wants him, nobody good wants him… The Steelers would have been Team 1 if I were Aaron Rodgers,” he added.
The analyst even suggested that Rodgers might take a cheaper “sweetheart” deal to ensure he lands in Pittsburgh. The bottom line: Landing Rodgers would be ideal, but is still a disappointing contingency for the team.
All the rumblings say Wilson is done in the Steel City — even though the Steelers just acquired D.K. Metcalf, who had his best season catching passes from Russ in Seattle back in 2020. Wilson’s elite deep ball also seemed like a perfect fit for the skill sets of Metcalf and George Pickens.
However, that one aspect of his game wasn’t enough. Not to mention, Justin Fields can throw a pretty darn good deep ball himself.
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Be it in the draft or free agency, there is probably no QB available this spring who will be the long-term franchise guy the Steelers have been looking for since Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement in 2022. However, Fields is the option that has the most reasonable and likely path to that level.
If they’re not priced out by the Jets, Fields is definitely their best option at QB in 2025. If he does choose to depart, however, the likely strategy will be a one-year rental with someone like Rodgers. That buys the Steelers time to study up for what promises to be a spicy QB draft class coming up in 2026.
