The speculation is over. Aaron Rodgers will be the starting quarterback of the Steelers for the 2025 season, the fourth in as many seasons since Ben Roethlisberger retired in 2021. With the consistent revolving door at the game's most important position, it's fair to ask a simple question: How did this all get to this point?
We can talk about the guy's pedigree, which include a Lombardi Trophy, four MVPs and a consensus spot as one of the 10 greatest quarterbacks in this game's history. He's got the NFL record for best passer rating and interception rate. His Hall of Fame monitor on Pro-Football Reference is 197.26, the third-highest of any quarterback in the history of the game behind Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, respectively.
But, that's not the Rodgers the Steelers are getting. They are getting a 41-year-old version that's coming off two tumultuous seasons with the Jets, the first of which completely lost to an Achilles injury on the fourth snap of the season opener. They are getting a version that's thrown 23 of his 116 career interceptions in 2022-24. You can't even count that many in his five prior seasons combined.
So, once again, how did the Steelers get here? Why does the team feel Rodgers gives them the best chance to compete in 2025? To provide that answer, we've got to go all the way back to Week 7 of the 2024 season.
THE 'LONE RANGER'
The Steelers were 4-2 with Justin Fields at quarterback. Fields had been filling in for Russell Wilson, who injured his calf at the start of training camp and then aggravated it shortly before the season opener in Atlanta. His play had slipped a bit in the two games leading up to Wilson's potential return in Week 7, a home game against the Jets. Despite several people in the organization pushing for Fields to remain the starter, Mike Tomlin boldly stuck with the veteran quarterback who always had "pole position" over Fields.
"I spoke to Mike Tomlin about it last night," Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, a close friend of Tomlin, reported the morning of the game. "And he said, 'Look, I went Lone Ranger on it.'
This represented an idea that traced all the way back to a couple of months prior. Sources confirmed to DK Pittsburgh Sports back in August that the franchise was already planning on approaching Wilson about a contract extension following the season, an idea both Tomlin and Art Rooney II very much supported. Remember, this was August, when Wilson had yet to take any meaningful reps in practice or in preseason games. They were already married to the idea of multiple years with Wilson.
It's at that moment Fields was at a complete disadvantage. With that kind of approach, Tomlin was going to see the Wilson experiment through, for better or worse. And right away, he looked like a genius -- and he embraced it. Following Wilson leading the Steelers to a convincing win over the Jets, Tomlin was asked if it was one of his bolder decisions to start Wilson, and he went for one of his ultimate mic drop moments by saying, "That's why I'm well-compensated."
"He said, 'Look, if it doesn't work out,' " Glazer continued, "I'll take the heat, I'll shoulder the blame. No problem."
Well, we all know how this all went down. The Steelers won six of their first seven games with Wilson at quarterback, then lost their next five games, culminating in a complete and embarrassing collapse.
As for why Tomlin never went back to Fields, that answer isn't completely known. However, Fields dealing with an injury sustained in the loss to the Eagles did play a big factor. He was completely inactive for the next two games. Asking Fields to come in right after that with the team in a complete free fall -- playing against a red-hot Bengals team fighting for their playoff lives in the season finale and a team that Wilson torched just five weeks prior -- was never the plan.
By that time, the damage had been done with Fields, though we wouldn't see the result from that for another few months.
NO HOME 'FIELDS' EDGE
By the time the season came to its ugly end, many in the organization had completely flipped on Wilson. Once a near lock for a contract extension without ever playing a down in black and gold, many higher up were vehemently against the idea of bringing back Wilson. Throughout the free agency process, the Steelers stayed in communication with Wilson, but only to not burn a bridge. There was never any true intention to bring him back.
In the meantime, many of those same higher ups were very much in favor of bringing back Fields. They liked his body of work over his six games as a starter, and they respected the way he handled the switch back to Wilson. Though the Steelers never viewed it as a true benching but rather going back to their initial starter, Fields took it a different way.
We have it on very good authority that Fields felt burned by the handling of the situation. Even during locker cleanout day, he looked like a guy who was ready to pack his stuff and get out of there without ever saying goodbye.
Now, maybe that was because of the way the season ended. Everybody in that locker room was embarrassed by that horrid performance in Baltimore. However, Fields' demeanor on that day matched his change of heart a couple months later when the negotiating period of free agency began.
The Steelers wanted Fields back. The offense was going to be tailored to his specific skill set. Of the few attractive options in a weak free agency class, Fields was their No. 1 priority. In fact, per sources, the Steelers made an offer very close to the one the Jets offered -- one that might have been just a touch more than what they initially wanted to potentially pay him. After all, Fields wasn't being viewed as a long-term solution, but a one- or two-year bridge with high upside.
However, nothing made Fields feel secure in returning to Pittsburgh. Fields wanted to go to a place where he felt he had a real chance to cement himself as a legitimate quarterback in this league. At the end of the day, the Steelers did very little to convince him of that while the Jets did. And that's why he's no longer in Pittsburgh.
ENTER RODGERS
With Fields in New York and Wilson not an option, the Steelers quickly pivoted to Rodgers. He was going to be cut from the Jets, and they gave him permission to negotiate with other teams. While the details of the initial conversations aren't known, the Steelers felt comfortable with the potential trajectory of talks with Rodgers, but also knew it wasn't going to be resolved right away.
That's why Omar Khan got a hold of Mason Rudolph right away and had a deal done with him in a day. Even when the Steelers reached out to Rudolph, per sources, they indicated to him they were all in on Rodgers. So, Rudolph knew about how serious the pursuit of Rodgers was going to be from before he even put pen to paper.
When the Steelers signed Rudolph, they viewed him as their safety net so they could wait out Rodgers. They didn't know how long Rodgers was going to take while he dealt with personal issues. Even though they remained confident that Rodgers would eventually sign, based on consistent communication between the two sides throughout this entire process, they needed an insurance policy so they weren't stuck with nothing at quarterback.
The faith the team has in Rudolph is real. If things fell through with Rodgers, they were fully prepared to roll with Rudolph. Not only did the front office and coaching staff have faith in Rudolph, they knew how much the players respected Rudolph and would buy in with him as their starting quarterback.
The reason Rodgers is here now is because, in the eyes of the key decision-makers on the South Side, he gives them the best chance to compete in 2025. While the organization had a lot of faith in Rudolph, they felt Rodgers raised the ceiling for the upcoming season. They were fine if Rudolph was the starter in Week 1, but also wanted to aim higher.
While Tomlin engineered this whole ordeal, this doesn't happen without Rooney's blessing. If Rooney put his foot down and said enough is enough, and he had the opportunity to do that publicly at both the NFL annual and spring meetings, the organization would have moved on.
But, Rodgers is also here because the 2024 experiment failed. Wilson was veteran with valuable experience and an impressive resume brought in to help stabilize the game's most important position, while Fields gave the team a potential low-risk, high-reward solution.
Rodgers is also a veteran with valuable experience and an impressive resume. There's no guarantee this will work out, either.
It is a better fit with Rodgers than it was with Wilson. Rodgers played under Matt LaFleur for four seasons in Green Bay, winning an MVP twice during that time. LaFleur had a huge influence on Arthur Smith while he was the Titans offensive coordinator in 2018. Smith learned a lot from him, and LaFleur wanted to bring Smith with him to Green Bay as his offensive coordinator when he became head coach of the Packers. Smith obviously chose to accept the promotion in Tennessee, and then deploy a lot of the things he learned from LaFleur. So, nothing Smith has in the playbook will be foreign territory to Rodgers.
Even so, this whole thing is still a big risk on the Steelers' end. Bringing in Rodgers is their home run swing for 2025. But it doesn't solve the long-term issue.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
THE ASYLUM
Chris Halicke
1:51 am - 06.06.2025South SideFriday Insider: How'd it get to signing Rodgers?
The speculation is over. Aaron Rodgers will be the starting quarterback of the Steelers for the 2025 season, the fourth in as many seasons since Ben Roethlisberger retired in 2021. With the consistent revolving door at the game's most important position, it's fair to ask a simple question: How did this all get to this point?
We can talk about the guy's pedigree, which include a Lombardi Trophy, four MVPs and a consensus spot as one of the 10 greatest quarterbacks in this game's history. He's got the NFL record for best passer rating and interception rate. His Hall of Fame monitor on Pro-Football Reference is 197.26, the third-highest of any quarterback in the history of the game behind Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, respectively.
But, that's not the Rodgers the Steelers are getting. They are getting a 41-year-old version that's coming off two tumultuous seasons with the Jets, the first of which completely lost to an Achilles injury on the fourth snap of the season opener. They are getting a version that's thrown 23 of his 116 career interceptions in 2022-24. You can't even count that many in his five prior seasons combined.
So, once again, how did the Steelers get here? Why does the team feel Rodgers gives them the best chance to compete in 2025? To provide that answer, we've got to go all the way back to Week 7 of the 2024 season.
THE 'LONE RANGER'
The Steelers were 4-2 with Justin Fields at quarterback. Fields had been filling in for Russell Wilson, who injured his calf at the start of training camp and then aggravated it shortly before the season opener in Atlanta. His play had slipped a bit in the two games leading up to Wilson's potential return in Week 7, a home game against the Jets. Despite several people in the organization pushing for Fields to remain the starter, Mike Tomlin boldly stuck with the veteran quarterback who always had "pole position" over Fields.
"I spoke to Mike Tomlin about it last night," Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, a close friend of Tomlin, reported the morning of the game. "And he said, 'Look, I went Lone Ranger on it.'
This represented an idea that traced all the way back to a couple of months prior. Sources confirmed to DK Pittsburgh Sports back in August that the franchise was already planning on approaching Wilson about a contract extension following the season, an idea both Tomlin and Art Rooney II very much supported. Remember, this was August, when Wilson had yet to take any meaningful reps in practice or in preseason games. They were already married to the idea of multiple years with Wilson.
It's at that moment Fields was at a complete disadvantage. With that kind of approach, Tomlin was going to see the Wilson experiment through, for better or worse. And right away, he looked like a genius -- and he embraced it. Following Wilson leading the Steelers to a convincing win over the Jets, Tomlin was asked if it was one of his bolder decisions to start Wilson, and he went for one of his ultimate mic drop moments by saying, "That's why I'm well-compensated."
"He said, 'Look, if it doesn't work out,' " Glazer continued, "I'll take the heat, I'll shoulder the blame. No problem."
Well, we all know how this all went down. The Steelers won six of their first seven games with Wilson at quarterback, then lost their next five games, culminating in a complete and embarrassing collapse.
As for why Tomlin never went back to Fields, that answer isn't completely known. However, Fields dealing with an injury sustained in the loss to the Eagles did play a big factor. He was completely inactive for the next two games. Asking Fields to come in right after that with the team in a complete free fall -- playing against a red-hot Bengals team fighting for their playoff lives in the season finale and a team that Wilson torched just five weeks prior -- was never the plan.
By that time, the damage had been done with Fields, though we wouldn't see the result from that for another few months.
NO HOME 'FIELDS' EDGE
By the time the season came to its ugly end, many in the organization had completely flipped on Wilson. Once a near lock for a contract extension without ever playing a down in black and gold, many higher up were vehemently against the idea of bringing back Wilson. Throughout the free agency process, the Steelers stayed in communication with Wilson, but only to not burn a bridge. There was never any true intention to bring him back.
In the meantime, many of those same higher ups were very much in favor of bringing back Fields. They liked his body of work over his six games as a starter, and they respected the way he handled the switch back to Wilson. Though the Steelers never viewed it as a true benching but rather going back to their initial starter, Fields took it a different way.
We have it on very good authority that Fields felt burned by the handling of the situation. Even during locker cleanout day, he looked like a guy who was ready to pack his stuff and get out of there without ever saying goodbye.
Now, maybe that was because of the way the season ended. Everybody in that locker room was embarrassed by that horrid performance in Baltimore. However, Fields' demeanor on that day matched his change of heart a couple months later when the negotiating period of free agency began.
The Steelers wanted Fields back. The offense was going to be tailored to his specific skill set. Of the few attractive options in a weak free agency class, Fields was their No. 1 priority. In fact, per sources, the Steelers made an offer very close to the one the Jets offered -- one that might have been just a touch more than what they initially wanted to potentially pay him. After all, Fields wasn't being viewed as a long-term solution, but a one- or two-year bridge with high upside.
However, nothing made Fields feel secure in returning to Pittsburgh. Fields wanted to go to a place where he felt he had a real chance to cement himself as a legitimate quarterback in this league. At the end of the day, the Steelers did very little to convince him of that while the Jets did. And that's why he's no longer in Pittsburgh.
ENTER RODGERS
With Fields in New York and Wilson not an option, the Steelers quickly pivoted to Rodgers. He was going to be cut from the Jets, and they gave him permission to negotiate with other teams. While the details of the initial conversations aren't known, the Steelers felt comfortable with the potential trajectory of talks with Rodgers, but also knew it wasn't going to be resolved right away.
That's why Omar Khan got a hold of Mason Rudolph right away and had a deal done with him in a day. Even when the Steelers reached out to Rudolph, per sources, they indicated to him they were all in on Rodgers. So, Rudolph knew about how serious the pursuit of Rodgers was going to be from before he even put pen to paper.
When the Steelers signed Rudolph, they viewed him as their safety net so they could wait out Rodgers. They didn't know how long Rodgers was going to take while he dealt with personal issues. Even though they remained confident that Rodgers would eventually sign, based on consistent communication between the two sides throughout this entire process, they needed an insurance policy so they weren't stuck with nothing at quarterback.
The faith the team has in Rudolph is real. If things fell through with Rodgers, they were fully prepared to roll with Rudolph. Not only did the front office and coaching staff have faith in Rudolph, they knew how much the players respected Rudolph and would buy in with him as their starting quarterback.
The reason Rodgers is here now is because, in the eyes of the key decision-makers on the South Side, he gives them the best chance to compete in 2025. While the organization had a lot of faith in Rudolph, they felt Rodgers raised the ceiling for the upcoming season. They were fine if Rudolph was the starter in Week 1, but also wanted to aim higher.
While Tomlin engineered this whole ordeal, this doesn't happen without Rooney's blessing. If Rooney put his foot down and said enough is enough, and he had the opportunity to do that publicly at both the NFL annual and spring meetings, the organization would have moved on.
But, Rodgers is also here because the 2024 experiment failed. Wilson was veteran with valuable experience and an impressive resume brought in to help stabilize the game's most important position, while Fields gave the team a potential low-risk, high-reward solution.
Rodgers is also a veteran with valuable experience and an impressive resume. There's no guarantee this will work out, either.
It is a better fit with Rodgers than it was with Wilson. Rodgers played under Matt LaFleur for four seasons in Green Bay, winning an MVP twice during that time. LaFleur had a huge influence on Arthur Smith while he was the Titans offensive coordinator in 2018. Smith learned a lot from him, and LaFleur wanted to bring Smith with him to Green Bay as his offensive coordinator when he became head coach of the Packers. Smith obviously chose to accept the promotion in Tennessee, and then deploy a lot of the things he learned from LaFleur. So, nothing Smith has in the playbook will be foreign territory to Rodgers.
Even so, this whole thing is still a big risk on the Steelers' end. Bringing in Rodgers is their home run swing for 2025. But it doesn't solve the long-term issue.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
We’d love to have you!