As voluntary Organized Team Activities are winding down for the Pittsburgh Steelers with mandatory minicamp taking place next week, the Pittsburgh Steelers still find themselves in limbo at the quarterback position as they continue to wait around for Aaron Rodgers.
At 41 years old, Rodgers still hasn’t made an official decision regarding the 2025 season and whether he’s going to play for the Steelers this fall, retire, or wait for another opportunity elsewhere in the league.
Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up Wednesday morning, NFL analyst Louis Riddick questioned the point of the Steelers continuing to wait around for Rodgers.
“Well, I mean, look, obviously Pittsburgh has put themselves in this position by being willing to continue to wait for him,” Riddick said, according to video via ESPN. “Obviously, they also know that what every organized activity that he misses, that is one less chance for him to kind of ingratiate himself to the rest of the locker room, learn the offense, really kind of develop chemistry, all the kind of things that I think sometimes maybe people get tired of talking about, because it’s an intangible thing that you can’t really quantify, but you sure can quantify when the season starts and all of a sudden wide receiver and quarterback are on the same page. They’re arguing on the sideline, relationships start to fracture.
“See, those are the things that right now you’re just kind of, you’re making the likelihood of that happening increase exponentially every single day that he’s not there. And really at this point, I don’t even know if it even makes sense anymore. I don’t know if it’ll give them the return that I said early on in February [that] he is the kind of guy that they actually need. He needs Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh needs him. It made sense back then. I don’t know if now they’ll get their return on investment.”
While he hasn’t signed, meaning he isn’t technically missing any important time with the Steelers since he isn’t a Steeler, if there is some sort of handshake deal between the two sides and Rodgers is going to be the Steelers’ quarterback, this time will ultimately matter later in the season.
Sure, he can get up to speed quickly in minicamp and training camp and build chemistry and rapport in those settings with new teammates, particularly receivers. But taking this long into the offseason to make a decision and not being immersed in the culture and the locker room right from the jump is concerning.
This is the time of year when teams are truly built, bonds are formed and — most importantly for Rodgers — that chemistry is built from the foundation between quarterbacks and their pass catchers. Communication is key, as is learning tendencies, reading how guys get in and out of breaks, and where they like the ball placed on certain routes.
Rodgers isn’t getting any of that right now, while guys like Mason Rudolph and rookie Will Howard are soaking up that valuable time.
The Steelers believe Rodgers is a plug-and-play quarterback who still has plenty of juice left in his right arm. Having the resume he does, that very well might be the case, especially after he played well in the final five games of the season for the New York Jets last year, throwing for 1,270 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions with a QB rating of 98.3.
The arm still looked quite good, and he threw for 339 yards in a win over the Miami Dolphins and then threw for four touchdowns in another matchup with the Dolphins. In Pittsburgh, he’d be stepping into a solid situation offensively with DK Metcalf at receiver under coordinator Arthur Smith and should have a strong rushing attack with Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell and rookie Kaleb Johnson handling the load on the ground.
It might end up being a good pairing, but right now the Steelers aren’t in a good spot with Rodgers missing this time if he’s going to sign with them. For Riddick, it just might not be worth it anymore. That might be the case as it all might crash and burn, just like his tenure with the Jets did.
But the Steelers are in this situation by choice and largely have no choice but to wait it out.
