When the Pittsburgh Steelers officially signed Aaron Rodgers to be their quarterback for the 2025 season, many within the fanbase received a surge of hope. We had confirmation that the worst-case scenario had been avoided—that Pittsburgh would not be forced to deploy Mason Rudolph for 17 games this year. But one NFL analyst just claimed that adding Rodgers is the worst-case scenario for Pittsburgh.
Former NFL quarterback and current analyst Dan Orlovsky just went on an Aaron Rodgers tirade where he boldly backed up his claim that signing Rodgers was the worst quarterback move the Steelers could have made this offseason.
"Worst place they could be in, [the Pittsburgh Steelers]," Orlovsky stated on NFL on ESPN. "He's good enough, they're good enough. They're going to go 9-8, 10-7. They won't matter in the playoffs, and we all know that. And then they're not bad enough to get a top-eight pick and find the quarterback of the future."
But Orlovsky's rant about the aging quarterback joining the Steelers was just getting started. He proceeded to explain why Rodgers' presence doesn't put them on par with the contending teams in the AFC.
"So you're in that area where, 'Great, we're going to be a contending team, but we're not better than Buffalo, we're not better than Kansas City, we're not better than Denver, we're not better than the Chargers, we're not better than the Bengals, we're not better than the Ravens'," Orlovsky continued. "So are we really going to matter? No. But we're not going to be bad enough [to get a high draft pick]."
Orlovsky wrapped up his argument with a bold closing statement that it would have been better for Mason Rudolph to start for the Steelers in 2025.
"At the end of the day, if the Steelers said we're going with Mason Rudolph this year because we have to figure out this position for the future and next year's college class is going to be good, I would have sat back and said, 'Not traditionally how you go do it, but I understand the reasoning why'," Orlovsky concluded.
Dan Orlovsky isn't wildly off base with his Aaron Rodgers take for the Pittsburgh Steelers
As much as we'd like to brush this Aaron Rodgers take to the side, it's not hard to understand where Dan Orlovsky is coming from. The Pittsburgh Steelers will have a new starting quarterback for the fifth straight season, and the ESPN analysts don't believe that Rodgers' presence suddenly vaults the Pittsburgh Steelers into the 'contender' discussion.
Because of this, it's easy to get behind the 'rebuild strategy, something this organization has been opposed to doing. But after witnessing stop-gap options like Mitch Trubisky, Russell Wilson, and Justin Fields fall short over the past few seasons, it's hard not to be pessimistic about the Steelers' current QB state.
Rodgers is a better option than Rudolph for 2025; there's no doubt about that. Heck, he might have been the best overall option on the free-agent market during the 2025 offseason. But if the Steelers aren't going to contend with Rodgers, what's the point of doing this? They're only delaying the inevitable.
I get what the Pittsburgh Steelers were trying to do. Mike Tomlin is a firm believer that anything can happen if a team is able to cash their ticket into the playoffs. Perhaps he's right. Maybe the stars could align for this team in the postseason, but Dan Orlovsky just made it blatantly clear that he doesn't believe that will happen.
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