The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the midst of voluntary OTAs right now with mandatory minicamp on the horizon (and fast approaching). But the Steelers still only have three quarterbacks officially on the roster. Will Aaron Rodgers be the fourth quarterback or not?
Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger has spoken previously about thinking Rodgers should arrive sooner rather than later. Even though Rodgers hasn’t signed yet, Roethlisberger still believes he will. It’s just a matter of when that happens. NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport said on Tuesday that Rodgers could sign either by the start of or during mandatory minicamp.
Rapoport’s not the first person to bring up that idea, either. Insider Mark Kaboly predicted midway through May that Rodgers would sign by mandatory minicamp if not during OTAs. And Roethlisberger thinks Rodgers should be in Pittsburgh for minicamp, too.
“Will we have an Aaron Rodgers sighting?” said Roethlisberger during Tuesday’s Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger livestream. “I don’t know about that. He can’t be fined because he is not part of the team. You would think that you’d like to have him there by then if he was going to come. Just for the simple fact of continuity, of relationship, learning the offense, all that kind of stuff.”
Rodgers has to learn a whole new offense while building relationships with a whole new group of teammates and coaches. Learning the offense won’t be the hardest part, but the sooner Rodgers is in the building and on the field, the better. And some people think it’ll happen quite soon.
But the longer this process drags on, the less confident people feel that a deal will be struck. That’s understandable. It’s the first week of June, and Rodgers still isn’t a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Roethlisberger sees only two realistic options for Rodgers, barring some significant shakeup to the NFL landscape.
“I don’t think Aaron’s gonna play anywhere else, I really don’t,” said Roethlisberger. “I think it’s us, obviously the Steelers, or nowhere. Just my feeling. Obviously, things could change, heaven forbid there is an injury in OTAs… But I think it’s us or nobody. And I think he just is really trying to figure out if that’s what he wants to do.”
That’s been a common refrain during this whole process. Will Aaron Rodgers even play football in 2025? He’s going to turn 42 in December. He’s obviously got things going on in his personal life with people he deeply cares about. At what point does he decide that it’s better for him just to retire and focus on his personal life?
Rodgers has not closed that door just yet. And it seems like Roethlisberger (and many others) thinks that if Rodgers continues to play football professionally, it’ll be in Pittsburgh. But it’s hard to be confident about anything during the Steelers’ pursuit of Aaron Rodgers. As Roethlisberger said, a significant injury to an entrenched starter elsewhere in the NFL could throw this whole pursuit completely off the rails.
And even if he does sign, how confident can we be that Rodgers will make a substantial positive impact on the Steelers in 2025? Five or six years ago, we wouldn’t have questioned this at all. But now? It’s a valid concern.
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