Rest easy, Steelers fans. Pittsburgh will not in fact be starting Mason Rudolph or sixth-round rookie Will Howard at quarterback this year. Not in Week 1, anyway. The team has agreed to terms with veteran Aaron Rodgers.
There have been under-the-radar whispers of the possibility of this signing for a little while now. Not much publicized, but those of us in the business, plugged into all the team sources and such, have been able to read the tea leaves, connect dots, and hazard guesses that it might potentially happen. OK, I'll stop now.
Rodgers is not the quarterback he was in his prime, but I won't dismiss what he did last year for the Jets. He started all 17 games and threw 28 touchdowns, finishing as fantasy's 15th-best quarterback. He's 41 and can't move or believably smile, but he's better than what the Steelers have had at the position since Ben Roethlisberger retired.
As for what this means for the team's wide receivers, most notably DK Metcalf but also whoever the team decides on/acquires to be the No. 2 wide receiver, there's some potential. Rodgers at quarterback has always been pretty good for capable No. 1 and 2 wideouts.
Leaving out the three seasons he missed either all (2023) or half (2013, 2017) of, Rodgers has been a starting quarterback for 14 NFL seasons: 13 in Green Bay, 1 with the Jets. In that timeframe, he's had 12 top-12 wide receivers in PPR leagues, and seven more in the top 25. So 19 wide receivers at least in the top 25 at the position -- a ton of No. 1s, and a respectable amount of No. 2s.
Just last year he had a pair of top-12 guys in Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams (including his games with Las Vegas). Table shows all of Rodgers' No. 1 and 2 wideouts a starter, with top-12 finishes in PPR leagues in bold.
| RODGERS' TOP 2 WIDE RECEIVERS, 2008-2024 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | Rk |
| 2008 | Greg Jennings | 140 | 80 | 1292 | 9 | 7 |
| 2008 | Donald Driver | 116 | 74 | 1012 | 5 | 22 |
| 2009 | Donald Driver | 113 | 70 | 1061 | 6 | 19 |
| 2009 | Greg Jennings | 119 | 68 | 1113 | 4 | 21 |
| 2010 | Greg Jennings | 125 | 76 | 1265 | 12 | 5 |
| 2010 | James Jones | 87 | 50 | 679 | 5 | 44 |
| 2011 | Jordy Nelson | 96 | 68 | 1263 | 15 | 4 |
| 2011 | Greg Jennings | 101 | 67 | 949 | 9 | 18 |
| 2012 | Randall Cobb | 104 | 80 | 954 | 9 | 16 |
| 2012 | James Jones | 98 | 64 | 784 | 14 | 17 |
| 2014 | Jordy Nelson | 151 | 98 | 1519 | 13 | 3 |
| 2014 | Randall Cobb | 127 | 91 | 1287 | 12 | 7 |
| 2015 | Randall Cobb | 129 | 79 | 829 | 7 | 26 |
| 2015 | James Jones | 99 | 50 | 890 | 8 | 30 |
| 2016 | Jordy Nelson | 152 | 97 | 1257 | 14 | 2 |
| 2016 | Davante Adams | 121 | 75 | 997 | 12 | 9 |
| 2018 | Davante Adams | 169 | 111 | 1386 | 13 | 4 |
| 2018 | Marquez Valdes-Scantling | 73 | 38 | 581 | 2 | 66 |
| 2019 | Davante Adams | 127 | 83 | 997 | 5 | 23 |
| 2019 | Allen Lazard | 52 | 35 | 477 | 3 | 68 |
| 2020 | Davante Adams | 149 | 115 | 1374 | 18 | 1 |
| 2020 | Marquez Valdes-Scantling | 63 | 33 | 690 | 6 | 55 |
| 2021 | Davante Adams | 169 | 123 | 1553 | 11 | 2 |
| 2021 | Allen Lazard | 60 | 40 | 513 | 8 | 48 |
| 2022 | Allen Lazard | 100 | 60 | 788 | 6 | 34 |
| 2022 | Christian Watson | 66 | 41 | 611 | 9 | 42 |
| 2024 | Garrett Wilson | 154 | 101 | 1104 | 7 | 9 |
| 2024 | Davante Adams | 141 | 85 | 1063 | 8 | 12 |
Given all this, I think we need to be enthusiastic about DK Metcalf, who Rodgers almost certainly will be locked in on. I'm not sure Pittsburgh has a compelling No. 2 on the roster (Calvin Austin, Robert Woods and Roman Wilson seem to be the leading candidates), but it's early, and there might be more dominoes to fall now that Rodgers has joined the team. There's also the possibility that Pat Freiermuth has a larger workload (sounds like a Jonnu Smith trade won't be happening, which would be a plus for the incumbent).
I think Pittsburgh has plenty of roster flaws and is probably the 3rd-best team in the AFC North, but a positive development for Metcalf for sure and probably the No. 2, once it's a little clearer who that will be.
--Andy Richardson