We are now about nine days away from the NFL Draft and while the Pittsburgh Steelers have been cleaning themselves up in order to look good as hosts, they still don’t have a quarterback. Well… I think they do but what happens if Aaron Rodgers chooses not to come back and play?
To begin, I believe he is coming back and the Steelers already know this. But let’s put that hunch aside and assume Rodgers has yet to make a decision and ultimately says, “No thanks. I’m enjoying life away from football with my new wife (who may or may not exist).” Should the Steelers really be surprised by this if that is his choice? Let us recall that Rodgers came to Pittsburgh for two reasons.
- He wanted to play for Mike Tomlin.
- He was rejected by every other franchise.
Mike Tomlin is no longer the coach and the Minnesota Vikings, who seemed to be the only other team interested in his services, are quite set at the position. There was a rumor a couple of weeks back that the Denver Broncos were interested in Rodgers. I believe that was simply a ploy to force the Steelers to up their offer to Rodgers. The only way that works in Denver is if Bo Nix’s recovery is going much slower than expected. For the time being however, it appears to be ‘Steelers or bust’ for Rodgers.
If he doesn’t come back then I find it to be a massive middle finger to the Steelers’ organization and to the fans. I understand that deciding to call it a career isn’t easy. It’s something that Rodgers has done for decades and coming to the conclusion that you are done doing it can be difficult. But hasn’t Rodgers had enough time by this point?
The season ended back in January. It’s now April. OTAs have already started and he’s nowhere to be seen. That’s not overly surprising as he’s no fan of OTAs at this point in his career, but wouldn’t his teammates like to know what he’s thinking? To take it a step further, wouldn’t Mike McCarthy and Omar Khan want to know too? After all, they have some rather important roster decisions to make starting next Thursday. While Rodgers’ return may not impact their decision on drafting a QB, it most certainly will impact on their decision when to draft one should they decide to.
As I stated above, I think Rodgers is coming back and I think the team knows it. If he doesn’t however he will have pissed off a lot of people but I’m guessing he won’t care in the least.
