With Aaron Rodgers in town, there’s more excitement for the 2025 season than there was before he joined. However, is that excitement really warranted? Some don’t think so, since the Steelers’ offseason seems laid out for them already next year. With that in mind, The Athletic’s Robert Mays thinks being able to watch the Steelers’ young players on the roster develop will keep 2025 from being a wasted season.
“The process of falling in love with, and watching your young players grow on the team that you root for is a very cool process,” Mays said on The Athletic Football Show on Wednesday. “Like, it’s not just a wasted year, even if you don’t have championship aspirations, or even if you’re not a Super Bowl contender. So that is always going to be a worthwhile thing on a multi-year level.”
It’s rare that a team heads into the season already knowing what their plan will be for the next offseason. Yet, that’s the situation the Steelers find themselves in. Most, although not all, expect Aaron Rodgers to play for just the 2025 season in Pittsburgh, and the two sides are likely to move on from each other. Pittsburgh also targets the 2026 draft, coincidentally in Pittsburgh, as a chance to land their next franchise quarterback.
The Steelers already know their destiny after the season ends. And they don’t feel like a team ready to make a Super Bowl run either, although they could win some games this year. With that in mind, some fans are already looking at the season as a wasted one. Mays thinks there’s a silver lining, though, and he’s right.
Pittsburgh hasn’t gone through a rebuild in quite some time. However, fans do have the opportunity to watch many of the Steelers’ young players this year. On the offensive line, there’s Broderick Jones, Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick, and Troy Fatuanu. Elsewhere on that unit, the Steelers have Roman Wilson, Calvin Austin III, and Kaleb Johnson. Aside from Austin, all of those players are heading into their third year, or less. On defense, Derrick Harmon, Yahya Black, Keeanu Benton, Joey Porter Jr, Beanie Bishop Jr., and Jack Sawyer are some names that stick out.
Looking at things wholly, if the Steelers are going to trade up for a quarterback next April anyway, would they be better off having a bad season, so they don’t have to lose as many assets? Mays thinks that might be the case, and he points to a specific team as an example.
“If you had the seasons that the 2022 and 2023 Jets had, where you have all these young guys who were ascending into stardom, but one side of the ball is still absolutely terrible and you go 7-10, that’s probably the best case scenario for what can happen with the Steelers right now,” Mays said.
For Aaron Rodgers’ sake, he probably wouldn’t like the same outcome he just had in New York. For the Steelers, though, this does make some sense.
Losing 10 games in the regular season gives you the same end result as losing in the Wild Card round. However, the more losses Pittsburgh stacks this year, the fewer spots they have to move to get their quarterback. And they could still lose all those games while having most of their young players take a step forward. Although that scenario might involve Rodgers missing some games.
The Steelers are never going to tank, and this isn’t to argue that they should. However, if they just flat-out stink, this could be a silver lining. If the team starts the year poorly, don’t think of it as a wasted season just yet. Having the Steelers’ young players step up, while getting a better draft pick, isn’t the worst thing in the world.
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