The Pittsburgh Steelers have been treading water at quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger walked off the field for the final time. From Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett to Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, the position has been a major talking point of the team since losing the Hall of Famer.
The team has been shuffling through middling talents year in and year out, being just competitive enough to make the playoffs but failing to win a game since their 2016 run to the AFC Championship.
Last year looked promising once Russell Wilson took the reins, until things crashed to the ground toward the end of the season. Riding a five-game losing streak to end 2024 stung, and the Steelers' front office promised changes were coming as a result.
Most of the offseason saw no significant changes to the team aside from typical roster shuffling and minimal coaching changes. Everyone was thinking the same thing: Where are these changes that were promised?
On Friday, that all changed when the news we had all been waiting for since the start of free agency dropped. A new quarterback is coming to Pittsburgh.
Aaron Rodgers will be the Pittsburgh Steelers QB for 2025
In other news, water is, in fact, wet. Aaron Rodgers to the Steelers was reported as likely early in free agency, and the saga has finally ended as most thought it would, with the two agreeing on a one-year deal.
If this were four or five years ago, everyone would be raving about the signing with Rodgers coming off his back-to-back MVP seasons. However, this is 2025, and Rodgers is two years removed from a torn achilles and coming off a very disappointing five-win season in 2024 with the Jets.
The Steelers tried this approach in 2024 with Russell Wilson, an aging former All-Pro quarterback, to man the position for a year while they try to find their future franchise guy. That went well until it didn't with the late-season collapse.
Is Aaron Rodgers really going to be the change the doctor ordered, and the front office promised? It feels like it will be presented that way to the fans, but it seems as though this is a repeat of last year with Russell Wilson, just with a different veteran.
Rodgers played relatively well to end the 2024 season, but he is no longer the MVP-caliber QB he was in his Green Bay days. His recent play suggests little improvement for the Steelers overall.
Time will tell if this will be the change the Steelers need to get over the hump and win a playoff game. It's either that, or the Steelers will be wearing the same shirt but in a different color for 2025.