Cris Carter
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Cris Carter isn't thrilled with Aaron Rodgers' slow decision process.
Former Minnesota Viking and Hall of Famer Cris Carter didn’t hold back when asked his thoughts about Aaron Rodgers’ timeline for a potential return.
Rodgers, who is still mulling returning for another NFL season, hasn’t indicated he is leaning one way or the other yet. But with the NFL Draft quickly approaching, the Pittsburgh Steelers are caught in a bit of a bind.
Carter addressed Rodgers’ drawn out decision, and he didn’t hold back on his Fully Loaded podcast.
“Aaron Rodgers is like a lot of these quarterbacks when they get to this,”said Carter. They’re so selfish. They never want to be called that, but they’re so selfish, and they’re so self-centered. Aaron Rodgers wants to play. He’s got one place that he can play. That’s in Pittsburgh, the place he played in last year, that happens to have his ex-coach.”
Aaron Rodgers Is Still Weighing His Options As Fans’ Patience Wears Thin
Rodgers is contemplating coming for a 22nd NFL season, but certainly hasn’t been in a rush to make a decision. With Pittsburgh as his only realistic opportunity to come back, he’d be once again teaming up with his former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy for one last ride. But with the draft just two weeks away, Rodgers still has yet to make an announcement.
He played well last season, especially considering he was 42 years old,throwing for3,322 yards and 24 touchdowns to just seven interceptions. So, the issue isn’t really if he can play, it’s how long he’s taking to let the Steelers know his plans.
And while Pittsburgh may not necessarily be looking to draft a quarterback in the first round, it must be frustrating to not know who will be quarterbacking the team until May or later. Carter isn’t the first to have voiced some displeasure with Rodgers’ sluggish ways, and surely won’t be the last.
What’s Going On With the Vikings Quarterback Situation?
Meanwhile, the Vikings have their own quarterback questions to answer. Kyler Murray was brought in via free agency to compete against J.J. McCarthy for the starting job. But by most accounts, it’s Murray’s job to lose, but Minnesota maintains that this will be an open competition.
“When the competition phase starts, it will fall right in line with a lot of the plans that I’m really excited about with training camp, whether it’s joint practices to come or those preseason games themselves,”O’Connell said last week. “But I’m excited for it. We all have to improve. [It] starts with me and my coaching staff and we’re having ourselves the type of offseason, I think, that’s really important in our trajectory of going into Year 5.”
McCarthy has quickly fallen out of favor with Minnesota after dealing with injuries and then posting some ugly numbers as a starter in 2025. Still, there’s a chance that Minnesota hasn’t given up on him completely, but he’ll need to beat out a former No. 1 overall pick to show he can be the QB1 for the Vikings.