Don’t tell Robert Woods the Pittsburgh Steelers’ ceiling is merely winning a playoff game. With already one Super Bowl ring on his finger, Woods is looking to add another before his NFL career wraps up. Reacting to the news that QB Aaron Rodgers is coming to town, Woods isn’t setting a low bar for the team to merely step over. Instead, he has his eyes on the Steelers winning the Super Bowl.
“We end up trading George Pickens,” Woods told Jim Rome on Rome’s show Friday. “We end up still signing Aaron Rodgers. And you still look at this roster and you say, Super Bowl contender just because of Aaron Rodgers. You have high caliber players on the offensive side, defensive side. It’s kind of hard to stop.”
Woods was part of the Los Angeles Rams’ 2021 Super Bowl squad but was injured mid-way through the regular season and wasn’t available for the team’s postseason run. Still, he was around a roster that hoisted a Lombardi and a Rams’ offense that ranked seventh in scoring. Pittsburgh hasn’t finished that high since 2018. Before getting hurt, Woods caught 45 passes for 556 yards and four touchdowns.
His production has gradually slipped since then, and in 2024 with the Houston Texans, he caught only 20 passes for 203 yards and failed to score a touchdown for the first time in his 12-year career. Woods won’t be counted on for a significant role in the Steelers’ offense, but with George Pickens traded and the team, so far, not adding another receiver, Woods should see rotational snaps and bring a “grimy” culture to the wide receiver room.
“When you get a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, it extends the level of play,” Woods said. “Of playoff contention, Super Bowl contention. Obviously, you feel like you’re a competitive team, but I feel like [signing Rodgers] puts you over the hump.”
The Steelers last appeared in a Super Bowl during the 2010 season, losing to a then-Rodgers’ led Green Bay Packers team. Pittsburgh’s last Lombardi came in 2008, the team’s sixth in franchise history.
In a best-case scenario, Rodgers will provide what Tom Brady gave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2020-2022. Not just in overall production, it’ll be difficult for Rodgers to match Brady’s numbers, but in leadership and standard that ultimately pried a Super Bowl window open. With Brady, teammates elevated their game. Rodgers brings a similarly high standard. Still, asking Rodgers to even replicate 75 percent of what Brady accomplished is asking a lot.
To make a Super Bowl run, the Pittsburgh Steelers will have to win a playoff game. It’s something they haven’t done in eight years. The idea of putting Pittsburgh in that upper tier of teams is easy to scoff out, and with good reason. But if anyone should believe in a team’s ability to exceed all expectations, it should be the players on the roster. Woods, like Rodgers, is keeping the bar high.
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