After having Russell Wilson and Justin Fields lead the team as starting quarterbacks last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers entered the offseason without either one on the roster. Both quarterbacks moved on to different teams in free agency, yet the Steelers practiced patience, waiting for Aaron Rodgers to announce whether he was retiring, touching down in Pittsburgh, or finding a different team.
The Steelers’ patience paid off when Rodgers finally inked a one-year, $13.6 million contract with the Steelers back in June. Yet, the arrival of the 40-year-old future first-ballot Hall of Famer doesn’t automatically mean the Steelers are headed to the Super Bowl or even the playoffs.
According to Christopher Barbre of Steeler Nation, Rodgers and the first-team Pittsburgh offense have gotten off to a really rough start.
“While Rodgers’ quick release has married well with DK Metcalf’s ability to win on slants, the QB hasn’t been able to unlock his big-play threat downfield,” DeFabo said. “During Sunday’s practice, Rodgers did find Metcalf on a deep cross thanks to some blown coverage. But that touchdown is the outlier in an offense that’s relied overwhelmingly on short, quick passes or checkdowns. During a seven-on-seven period, Rodgers overthrew Metcalf on a pair of vertical routes. This comes days after Rodgers and Metcalf failed to connect on a go route during the two-minute drill to end Friday Night Lights. The only other memorable deep ball between the two in team periods also fell incomplete about a week ago, when Rodgers’ pass fluttered out of bounds as Joey Porter Jr. stayed in Metcalf’s hip pocket.”
To be fair, Rodgers is learning a new offense with all-new receivers. This isn’t like his time with the New York Jets, where he was just rehashing the same Nathaniel Hackett offense Rodgers had mastered before, with the help of familiar receivers too. He’s starting from scratch with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
As a four-time NFL MVP, Rodgers definitely knows what level of standard the offense needs to reach. The Steelers may not be there yet, in the first week of August, but they have an entire month to get things right before their Week 1 regular season matchup against the Jets on Sept. 7.
Related: 2025 NFL QB Rankings: Where Is Aaron Rodgers?
