**Buy or Sell: Aaron Rodgers will give the Steelers their best QB play since pre-injury Ben Roethlisberger.**
**Explanation:** _Aaron Rodgers will be the Steelers’ quarterback in 2025, and he has a low bar to live up to, honestly. Even before he retired, former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger lost something after his 2019 injury. They managed to win for a while in 2020, but chiefly through conservative play._
**Buy:**
That this is a low bar to clear makes it an easy buy. Aaron Rodgers merely needs to have a mediocre Aaron Rodgers season in order to make good, and he will. I will note that both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields played better, and won more, with the Steelers last year than in their previous stops.
In other words, even though Rodgers went 5-12 with the Jets last year, that doesn’t mean the Steelers are doomed. Nobody actively chooses to go to the Jets with a full awareness of what they’re signing up for. And I say that having a family of Jets fans. They’re the Jets, and I think even that fireman gave up on them by now.
But anyway, I digress. What is Rodgers’ competition for the title of least-worst quarterback play for the Steelers? Justin Fields, let’s be honest, never did anything particularly noteworthy beyond not losing games. For a stretch, Russell Wilson offered a bit of magic, but we’re talking about a season.
**Sell:**
Then again, _we’re talking about a season._ That’s a long time and Aaron Rodgers is the oldest player in the NFL at this point. He is another year removed from an Achilles injury, but he is a 41-year-old with a somewhat recent Achilles injury.
The Steelers have gotten poor to mediocre quarterback play more often than not over the past three years. A lot of that had to do with Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett. But Russell Wilson and Ben Roethlisberger both played at a high level at times.
I’m sure Aaron Rodgers will have some high-level moments, even games, or stretches of games. But when you watch in between his highlights last season, we see this isn’t the Aaron Rodgers of old. Ben Roethlisberger may have been immobile with a noodle arm at the end of his career, but the Steelers largely found ways to make it work.
_The Steelers are building toward the 2025 season, following yet another disappointing year. While they reached the playoffs, they once again lost decisively in the first round. They are facing questions, both publicly, and perhaps privately as well._ [_Questions about The Standard_](https://steelersdepot.com/2024/01/mike-tomlin-reiterates-the-standard-for-2024-in-no-uncertain-terms-we-want-to-be-world-champions/), and what the Steelers stand for_._
_The rookie class of a year ago was successful, but they need to step up into staple starters in 2025. And they need everyone healthy to do it, not an insignificant consideration. They needed a strong influx of talent in both free agency and in_ [_the 2025 NFL draft_](https://www.nfl.com/draft/event-info/) _yet again._
_These sorts of uncertainties are what we will address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, we will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false)._
Payton every snap