Aaron Rodgers Finally Agrees to Join Steelers

Our long national nightmare appears to be over at long last, with Tom Pelissero reporting Thursday that future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers would be flying to Pittsburgh Friday to sign with the Steelers before next week’s minicamp.

The 41-year-old Rodgers lands in Pittsburgh after two years with the Jets. He missed all but 4 snaps of 2023 after tearing his Achilles on the team’s first drive of the season, but he played all 17 games last year, passing for 3,897 yards and 28 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. Those numbers were all improvements over his final season in Green Bay in 2022, but a step down from his back-to-back MVP seasons in 2020 and 2021. He had zero touchdowns on the ground last year, his first time without a rushing TD in a season with at least 10 games.

The Steelers said goodbye to 2024 starts Russell Wilson (11 games) and Justin Fields (6) this offseason, leaving them with a depth chart of Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson and rookie sixth-rounder Will Howard at quarterback, so the writing was on the wall all offseason that Rodgers would eventually land with Pittsburgh.

Rodgers has been a fantasy stud for much of his career. Even last year, with no rushing touchdowns and going 5-12 for a disappointing Jets team, Rodgers finished as the QB15 in fantasy. He turns 42 in December, so the days of Rodgers being a top-flight fantasy quarterback are almost certainly behind him. Still, as long as he stays healthy, Rodgers carries a high floor — he had at least 9.6 fantasy points in all but two games last year and at least 15 points 10 times. His ceiling might be lacking (he’s had 30 points in a game once since Week 11 of 2021), but as the safe part of a superflex/two-QB duo, you could do way worse.

Rodgers’ arrival in Pittsburgh is good news for the Steelers’ offseason addition at wide receiver, DK Metcalf. The former Seahawk has had at least 900 yards in all six of his NFL seasons, topping 1,000 three times. He’s averaged 8 touchdowns a year as well. On a Pittsburgh depth chart without much to speak of behind Metcalf — the next receivers up are, in some order, Roman Wilson, Calvin Austin III and Robert Woods, who combined for 751 yards and 4 touchdowns last year — Metcalf is likely to carry a huge target share with Rodgers.

Now, all eyes turn to the Steelers’ Week 1 game, when they will face … Rodgers’ previous team, the Jets. And at quarterback, the Jets have Justin Fields, who opened as the Steelers’ quarterback last year. Revenge games all around.