Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers finally agreed to the long-awaited one-year deal over the weekend after months of back-and-forth drama and navel-gazing and ... according to one media outlet, virtually complete confidence that it would all work out ...
Which sounds like a handy bit of revisionist history to us.
Yes, the Steelers finally have their quarterback for 2025, and at a base salary of $13.65 million Rodgers can be a bargain.
Unless, you know, he wins five games for his team, as was the case during last year's awful 5-12 New York Jets campaign.
But now comes a movement, obviously driven by the Steelers front office, that they had a "What, Me Worry?'' confidence all along."The sides resolved to stay in touch," Albert Breer writes. "There weren’t regularly scheduled check-ins, but Rodgers would call (coach Mike) Tomlin and (offensive coordinator Arthur) Smith every now and again, which colors why the Steelers were never really concerned that Rodgers would back out on them."
So ... owner Art Rooney was never actually frustrated? That's not how we remember it.
And other people in the building, including in the locker room, we're clued in on how it was all going to secretly work out and therefore sometimes expressed concern?
And Rodgers openly touching on the idea of retirement ... that never worried Tomlin and Smith?
We're not buying it.
Indeed, if the Steelers were always so cocksure and all-in on Rodgers, why is ESPN's Adam Schefter now telling us about the desire to get other QBs first?
"This was the best move that the Pittsburgh Steelers could make right now," Schefter said on ESPN's "Get Up." "But let's also remember that this was the third option for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were in on Matthew Stafford and couldn't get done a trade. They tried to re-sign Justin Fields. He opted to go to the New York Jets where he will meet Aaron Rodgers on opening day, and after they couldn't get a trade done for Stafford and couldn't get Fields re-signed, they pivoted to Aaron Rodgers."
So the Steelers had their eyes on a different Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Stafford, and were willing to take on his two-year, $84 million contract from Los Angeles in addition to paying in trade?
And they though Fields was better than Rodgers, too?
Tell us again how this was a smooth setup all along.
At 41, Rodgers comes to town with controversy baggage after his tumultuous Jets' tenure. And we suppose that now, the Steelers aren't worried about that, either.
Yet.