There was once a time when it didn’t seem like Aaron Rodgers would be back in Pittsburgh again. Then Mike McCarthy was hired. And the Steelers’ brass has done nothing but talk up the idea of bringing him back.
That continued this week, with Omar Khan reaffirming that the team is waiting for him to make a decision. From all aspects, the Steelers have made it clear they’re happy to wait for Rodgers, and it seems they would welcome him back.
But what if it’s just coach-speak? Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein thinks that might be the case. She doesn’t rule Rodgers out, but she does question how true Pittsburgh’s interest in Rodgers really is.
“I understand that Omar Khan’s top job is not to tell us the truth when he needs leverage in negotiations. I also think we should keep that in mind, that on face value, when they talked about Aaron Rodgers, you would think this is a team that is absolutely, ‘Aaron, if you want it, we’re in, just let us know’. And then when you start to peel it back, I’m not that sure that that’s the case,” Epstein said Wednesday on the Inside Coverage podcast.
Epstein is right that Khan is never going to tip his hand, just as any GM would. There are a number of players with question marks on the roster, including names like Jalen Ramsey and Patrick Queen, and Khan hinted at keeping both of them. Of course, if he were actually planning to trade or release one, he wouldn’t go talking about it to the media. Only time will tell how true those statements are.
For what it’s worth, the interest in Aaron Rodgers does seem genuine. The Steelers had a clear interest in Rodgers last offseason, and went through all of free agency and the draft before Rodgers actually made his decision. It clearly wasn’t a facade then. With a solid first season together, and with how poor this offseason’s quarterback market is, it probably isn’t now either.
However, there are a couple of interesting names still out there. Epstein thinks it’s still too soon to count the Steelers out of those conversations.
“I don’t think we should for sure count them out of the bidding for other guys,” Epstein said. “That middle-class quarterback, so to say, who they feel like has potential that wasn’t met at an earlier stop, which makes me wonder about Malik Willis, or even Kyler Murray.”
Willis is an attractive option after a great end to his season in Green Bay. But he also might cost around $30 million, with a few teams potentially in the bidding. The Steelers have enough cap space to pull something like that off. But they may not be willing to commit that much money to a player with six career starts.
There’s also the reclamation quarterback idea that comes along with Kyler Murray. Quarterbacks have been able to reinvent themselves around the league recently, and Murray could make some sense. But that’s another risk in itself, and it’s questionable if Murray would elevate the offense more than Rodgers already could.
Fortunately, the Aaron Rodgers saga shouldn’t last as long this offseason. To Epstein, it may not be much of a saga at all, and she still considers the Steelers a potential landing spot for some other names on the market.
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