The Pittsburgh Steelers proceed to attend for a solution from free agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers on whether or not he’ll signal with the crew, however FOX Sports activities’ Chris Broussard doesn’t assume Rodgers will likely be sufficient for the Steelers to have an excellent 2025 season. On First Issues First on FS1, Broussard mentioned he believes the Steelers can have a dropping season and that it can include Rodgers as their quarterback.
“I like Mike Tomlin, I usually just like the Steelers, I don’t essentially need this to be true, however I believe that is going to be their first dropping season underneath Mike Tomlin with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback.”
Broussard pointed to the truth that the Jets went 5-12 final season and the Packers went 8-9 in Rodgers’ closing yr beginning for them in 2022 as his rationale for why Rodgers and the Steelers will battle. It’s a legitimate concern to be nervous about how a lot the 41-year-old quarterback has left within the tank, and in Pittsburgh, he’d be becoming a member of an offense that, on paper, isn’t that a lot better than what he had with the Jets final season.
Nonetheless, underneath Mike Tomlin, the Steelers have at all times discovered a option to win video games, and their protection is often robust sufficient to assist them win a couple of video games they shouldn’t. Final season, the protection deteriorated down the stretch, and Pittsburgh’s offense started to battle concurrently, resulting in a disastrous closing month that noticed the crew lose 5 straight video games. Rodgers performed his greatest soccer within the second half final season, and the Steelers appear to imagine he’ll be an improve over what they’d at quarterback in 2024.
It’s not unfathomable to see the Steelers having a dropping season, and in the long term, it’s one thing that former Steelers S Ryan Clark thinks will profit the crew. Pittsburgh at all times appears to discover a means, nonetheless, and the offense needs to be higher than what the Steelers had final yr if Rodgers does signal. If the protection performs the best way it did for many of final season, the Steelers ought to compete for a playoff spot.
It’s removed from a assure, nonetheless, and there’s an opportunity that Aaron Rodgers might present his age, and a protection that isn’t getting any youthful resembles the unit that struggled to get to the quarterback and was rife with miscommunication points down the stretch. The AFC North continues to be one of many league’s most troublesome divisions, and the Steelers very effectively might battle to search out their footing. I believe it’s extra probably that they’re as soon as once more within the playoff combine, however even with Rodgers, it is a crew that can nonetheless must struggle to make it, and it wouldn’t be stunning if issues went off the rails.
