The Pittsburgh Steelers discussed a multitude of quarterbacks this offseason, including Aaron Rodgers, who they ended up landing.
According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the Steelers discussed Rodgers during their initial end-of-season evaluations. The team also decided to move on from Russell Wilson.
Breer details the first option was to bring back Justin Fields as the starter, but if another team pursued him, they knew they would have a hard time getting him back. Among the options discussed were Daniel Jones, Kirk Cousins, Matthew Stafford, and others in the free agency pool.
“Rodgers’s name first arose as the Steelers went through initial end-of-season evaluations. Pittsburgh was moving on from Russell Wilson. The Steelers did want to keep working with Justin Fields, but knew if another team was willing to make him the guy, they’d have a hard time keeping him. So they discussed Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, Kirk Cousins and Daniel Jones as options," Breer wrote.
Those options were all over the place, with Fields and Stafford leading the way as their top options, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. Yet, the Steelers never believed Stafford would leave Los Angeles, and so while called, they focused their energies elsewhere.
“The Steelers touched base with the Rams on Stafford, but never believed Stafford would sign off on leaving Los Angeles. They did the same with the Falcons on Cousins,” Breer wrote.
Ultimately, the team decided to wait on Rodgers, who signed his one-year deal on Saturday, to make it official. He will be the Steelers’ starting quarterback this year, but the team looked all over the map before settling on Rodgers as the option they wanted.
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