Farewell tour or Super Bowl run? What Rodgers deal means for Steelers

When Aaron Rodgers arrived at the New York Jets in 2023, he joked about their sole Super Bowl trophy “looking lonely”.

The Jets went all in on the NFL’s four-time Most Valuable Player, who was expected to transform them into championship contenders.

The vibe was very different on the veteran quarterback’s first day with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday.

Rodgers played down talk of a Super Bowl run while head coach Mike Tomlin said “we’ll make no bold predictions”.

After being released following a disappointing second season with the Jets, Rodgers spent months considering his future and said in April that “retirement could still be a possibility”.

He has chosen to play on but not for his football legacy. In 18 years with the Green Bay Packers, Rodgers ensured he will head into the Hall of Fame as one of the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks.

Since winning the 2011 championship, a second Super Bowl ring has eluded him, but Rodgers said on Tuesday that challenging for another is not his main motivation.

It is not money either. His one-year deal with Pittsburgh is worth $13.65m (£10m) – one of the NFL’s lowest annual salaries among guaranteed starting quarterbacks.

He still feels fit enough too. Rodgers’ first season with the Jets was written off by a torn Achilles but he started every game in his second and currently “feels good” physically.

He kept the Steelers waiting because he needed time to deal with his personal life, which he revealed on Tuesday included getting married. Now he is ready to focus on football again.

“For my ego, I don’t need to keep playing,” he said. “A lot of decisions I’ve made over my career and life from strictly the ego – even if they turn out well – are always unfulfilling.

Pittsburgh have struggled at quarterback since two-time Super Bowl winner Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season.

Justin Fields and Russell Wilson shared the role last season, and despite a positive start, the Steelers lost their last five games and bowed out in the first round of the play-offs.

Both then left – Fields replaced Rodgers at the Jets – while the Steelers brought in back-ups Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson, and sixth-round draft pick Will Howard.

They still needed an obvious, experienced starter, and they left the door open for Rodgers, who remained in regular contact with coach Tomlin.

Some felt Rodgers had too much of a say in who the Jets recruited and how they played, but he showed some humility on his first day with the Steelers, saying he believes in Tomlin.

“I just want to be a servant leader here, pass on the knowledge I have, and try to fit in with the guys,” he added.

Rodgers is the NFL’s oldest active player and will replace Roethlisberger as the Steelers’ oldest-ever player.

Strong defences have played a major part in Pittsburgh’s six Super Bowl wins and that remains a hallmark of the current team.

The Steelers made a big move on offence in March by trading for Seattle receiver DK Metcalf, who trained with Rodgers in the off-season, but they then allowed both their leading receiver and running back from last season to leave – George Pickens and Najee Harris.

Since winning back-to-back MVPs in 2020 and 2021, Rodgers’ stats have been in decline but ESPN analyst Stephen A Smith said: “He’s still got a little something left and it’s going to be better than anything we’ve seen in recent memory. Give them a chance”.

Ryan Clark, who played in Pittsburgh’s last Super Bowl success in 2009, said that Rodgers is “an upgrade but no longer elite” and that his arrival is “the worst-case scenario”.

He and ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky believe the Steelers will not make an impact in the play-offs but will “not be bad enough” to secure an early pick in next year’s draft, meaning they will miss out on a potential franchise quarterback.

Tomlin is the NFL’s longest-serving current head coach and the team has not had a losing record in his 18 seasons in charge, however, Pittsburgh have not won a play-off game since three-time Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes was drafted by AFC rivals Kansas City in 2017.

Rodgers said in his documentary on Netflix last year that “I don’t feel like I need to prove anything to anybody but myself”.

But if this is to be his final year in the NFL, the schedule has provided plenty of opportunities to get the last laugh against his friends and foes.

The Steelers visit the Jets in week one and host Ireland’s first NFL game on 28 September against the Minnesota Vikings, rivals of Green Bay and one of three teams that spoke with Rodgers in the off-season.

Pittsburgh welcome the Packers in week eight and the Steelers will visit both of Green Bay’s other divisional rivals, Chicago and Detroit.

Two of the NFL’s best quarterbacks are in Pittsburgh’s division, the AFC North, so Rodgers could play two games against both Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati), and he is set to face last season’s MVP, Josh Allen (Buffalo).