The wait on Aaron Rodgers seems to finally be over. Rodgers has reportedly informed the Steelers of his plans to travel to Pittsburgh on Friday and sign a contract to play in 2025. However, NFL Network’s Steve Wyche doesn’t think Steelers fans should get too excited. He believes Rodgers is still the third-best quarterback in the AFC North.
“The thing is, even a better Aaron Rodgers than what we’ve maybe seen the past couple of years, he’s still the third-best quarterback in the division behind Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson, whatever order you wanna stack ’em,” Wyche said on NFL Network on Thursday.
Aaron Rodgers finally joining the Steelers could solidify things at QB for a season, but is that good enough in the AFC, let alone the AFC North? pic.twitter.com/I5kSh7Irp3
— Steve Wyche (@wyche89) June 5, 2025
It’s hard to argue with Wyche here. Obviously, Rodgers’ career resume surpasses both Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. But the argument can’t be made that the version of Rodgers the Steelers are getting is the same he used to be. However, despite having what Wyche believes is the division’s third-best quarterback, the Steelers might be better than the third-best team. And it feels safe to say the difference between Rodgers and whoever the Cleveland Browns trot out as their Week 1 starter is a large one.
It comes down to how Rodgers plays down the stretch. If he can perform similarly to Russell Wilson, but play better towards the end of the season, the Steelers might be in good shape.
Last year, Pittsburgh led the division for most of the year. The Ravens ended up catching them at the end of the season, but it came down to the final week to decide a winner. Pittsburgh’s loss in Baltimore late in the year contributed to that. That was a close game with a couple crucial errors from Wilson. If the Steelers end up winning that game, who knows how the division might have played out. As for Cincinnati, the Steelers were able to finish above them with Wilson last year. If Aaron Rodgers plays to a similar level, it’s reasonable to expect the same in 2024.
With that said, Wyche isn’t pessimistic regarding Rodgers’ effect on the Steelers’ chances. He won’t go as far as to call them a Super Bowl contender. However, he does think they’re a more complete team.
“But he can still be good enough to get an overall solid team,” Wyche said. “Very good defense, very solid offensively if they can get good quarterback play, to be a good team. To get to the Super Bowl? We know there’s Buffalo. We know there’s Kansas City. We know the Chargers are on the come up. We know the Broncos are on their come up. But the Steelers had to compete because the AFC is just that good.”
Even with Rodgers, nobody is going to take the Steelers as a Super Bowl threat until they prove they are. As Wyche listed, teams like the Bills, Chiefs and Ravens stand in the way of that. What Rodgers may do is improve their chances at an elusive playoff win. That’s something the Steelers haven’t seen in many years.
He’ll turn 42 years old next season, so expectations shouldn’t be sky high. However, if Pittsburgh could walk away from the 2025 season with a playoff win, it would feel like the months-long wait on Aaron Rodgers was worth it for the Steelers.
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