Is there any substance to the Broncos or any other team being interested in Aaron Rodgers?
On April Fool’s Day, Mike Florio threw out the wild assertion that the Broncos are interested in Aaron Rodgers. Thus far, he appears to be the only person in the world who is aware of this fact. Dismissing leaks from Denver as misdirection because they didn’t want this information out there, he spent the afternoon trying to connect a series of dots between Rodgers and Broncos HC Sean Payton.
Denver, of course, had an excellent season sullied by the injury of QB Bo Nix. The Broncos reached the conference finals but could go no further with a backup quarterback. But Aaron Rodgers is not going to play the Justin Fields role with the Chiefs, clinging to a potential chance to play if the starter isn’t ready at the beginning of the season.
If Rodgers signed with the Broncos, it would be as a full-time starter over Bo Nix. There is no logical reason that he would settle for anything else, given that he has a clear runway to the Steelers’ starting job. He might love mentoring young quarterbacks, but not enough to choose to be his backup.
Earlier in the offseason, it was fair to question whether a team like the Vikings might be interested in Rodgers, but the Broncos never came up. Since then, essentially every team in the market filled the voids they had, leaving him with no other viable alternatives.
Of course, if there were a team out there that really believed in Aaron Rodgers, they would gladly sign him. But they didn’t line up for him last year, and I don’t think his season with the Steelers was that compelling. He may have improved his standings somewhat after two dismal years in New York. But if there were any fire from this smoke, I’m sure we would have felt it sooner than April.
In case it isn’t obvious, I highly doubt the Broncos have any meaningful interest in Aaron Rodgers. Or at least, no interest that would match Rodgers’ interests. Maybe they would like, in theory, to sign him as a potential emergency option if Bo Nix isn’t ready to play at the start of the year. But it’s unfathomable to think that he would sign up for such an arrangement, given the alternative with the Steelers.
The Steelers exited the playoffs in the first round yet again, a pattern going back to 2017.With seven consecutive postseason losses, and no wins in nearly a decade, they are facing another long, long offseason. No doubt we will see many changes, but none will top Mike Tomlin resigning.
The NFL has crowned its latest champion, but for us and the Steelers, we have been in offseason mode. That’s what happens when the team you coverloses by the middle of January all the time, but you’ve been around, so you know that already. Enjoy the ride, even the turbulence, because it’s the only way we know how to travel anymore.
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