‘He’s back’ but how far will Rodgers lead Steelers?

NFL 2025 season

Dates: 4 September 2025 – 8 February 2026

New Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was kidding no-one.

He may have played down the significance of making his debut at the team that effectively just fired him, but there was no hiding his pleasure after leading the Steelers to a comeback win over the New York Jets.

“I was happy to beat everybody associated with the Jets,” said the veteran after Sunday’s game.

“It was nice to win, especially hearing some of the catcalls out there and the boo birds. I’m not sensitive about that. I expected that. I kind of liked that.”

The 41-year-old was given a hostile reception on his return to MetLife Stadium after two disappointing seasons with the Jets – the first wiped out by a torn Achilles tendon.

But the NFL’s four-time MVP showed that perhaps the Jets were wrong in telling him in February that they wished to go “in a different direction”.

“There were probably people in the organisation that didn’t think I could play anymore,” Rodgers added. “So, it was nice to remind those people that I still can.”

Rodgers threw four touchdown passes as Pittsburgh fought back to win 34-32 in their opening game of the season.

One of those was a toss to Jonnu Smith but the other three were trademark Rodgers, something Andrew Brandt saw from the moment the Green Bay Packers drafted him in 2005.

The former Packers vice-president told BBC Sport: “First practice of that mini camp, [we realised] there’s something special here. And we’ve seen it all the way. He’s had this incredible ability for ball placement. It’s still there, and it’s nice to see at this advanced age.

“I’ve never seen a player throw the ball in perfect places like he can do. He had a rough two years with the Jets, but he’s back.

“He’s always had that ability with ball placement. That’s always going to be there. He’s lost some speed, he’s lost some physical ability, but this guy can sling it.”

In his only full season with the Jets, Rodgers’ passing stats were similar to his final year with the Packers, which were slightly down on when he was named MVP for 2020 and 2021.

His Pittsburgh debut was a vast improvement and while his Achilles injury and advanced years have undoubtedly cost him some pace, he did not run the ball much anyway, given he remains a pocket passer rather than a dual-threat quarterback.

“He’s still doing it in an age where the NFL landscape is changing,” said NFL pundit Phoebe Schecter. “The prototype quarterback is no longer what it used to be, your Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees – who stand in the pocket and throw the ball.

“Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes – they’re so different in their style. They’re on the move. They use their body so much more.

Rodgers has always demanded a lot from his team-mates and called out one of his receivers during a post-match news conference last season.

Perhaps Sunday’s game showed that the veteran has mellowed – and that he is able to compensate for his limited movement following his season-ending injury in 2023.

“He’s able to get the ball out so fast and be so accurate, and he’s making changes at the line of scrimmage,” said Schecter.

“The way his brain works, he’s like having a coach on the football field.

“He has really developed so much, not just from a quarterback perspective, but in terms of how he’s managing his team-mates,” she added.

“There’s a great example in the game when DK Metcalf, a star receiver, drops the football. Perhaps in the past, Rodgers wouldn’t have gone back to him, but the next play he gets the football in his hands. That’s the new version of Aaron Rodgers that we’re so excited to see.”

Rodgers, whose solitary Super Bowl win came against Pittsburgh in 2011, turns 42 in December, but Tom Brady won his last Super Bowl aged 43 and retired at 45.

The Steelers have not won a play-off game since 2017 but Mike Tomlin is used to grinding out results as, since becoming their head coach in 2007, he is yet to have a losing season.

“I don’t think age is the issue [for Rodgers],” said Schecter. “I mean, look at Tom Brady and what he was able to do. I think he’s changed the narrative around what age you can be in order to play this amazing sport, especially at quarterback.

“And because of [Rodgers’] football IQ, there’s no defence that he has not seen or come up against in all of his years, so it’s really up to him.”

What could be Rodgers’ farewell tour continues at home to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

Pittsburgh play the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin on 28 September and have two of the NFL’s best quarterbacks in their division – the AFC North – so Rodgers could play two games against both Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati).

He is set to face last season’s MVP, Josh Allen (Buffalo), and has a reunion with Green Bay scheduled for 26 October in Pittsburgh.