For the first time in a generation, the Green Bay Packers took a wide receiver in the first round. In front of the home crowd watching the 2025 NFL Draft unfold just outside of Lambeau Field, team president Mark Murphy gave the people what they wanted. He announced that the Packers had picked former Texas star wide receiver Matthew Golden with the No. 23 overall pick. Green Bay never does this stuff.
One former Green Bay resident who was not there to take in the merriment was their former starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers. While his two-year New York Jets tenure went about as well as Brett Favre's one-year run leading Gang Green, he actually has a chance to do the Packers one better. If he signs with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he will be throwing the football to DK Metcalf and George Pickens.
Although neither star wide receiver were first-round picks coming out of their respective SEC school like Golden just was, it is safe to say Metcalf has eclipsed what he did at Ole Miss. As for Pickens, the mercurial talent out of Georgia remains who he is, as mercurial as ever. If Rodgers decides to stop holding the Steelers hostage, he could go to the best place possible for him to close out his career.
Of course, he has not been good for the last few years and he might just sail off into the sunset...
Aaron Rodgers can reinvent himself by joining the Pittsburgh Steelers
Look. I am very happy for Golden to be going to a place like Green Bay. There may never be another draft-day moment quite like the one we saw last night with him interacting with copious amounts of Cheesheads in real time after being drafted. This is one of my favorite picks of the first round. It gives the Packers the necessary juice I felt they needed to potentially get over the top with Jordan Love.
That being said, I know what Metcalf is, what Pickens can be, but it all comes down to what Rodgers still has left in the tank. Personally, I would like to see Rodgers leave football behind and go on doing whatever he does in his life. This would also increase the possibility that my Atlanta Falcons end up moving on from Kirk Cousins, as the Steelers would be a viable option for him on the trade market.
However, it feels like it should be Steelers or nothing for Rodgers at this point of his career. This is the only team he can go to who can conceivably contend right away, but still needs a quarterback. Pittsburgh always has wide receivers, whereas the Packers rarely provided the necessary ingredients for Rodgers to get to work. Then again, it was up to him to make do with whatever he was provided.
We should get clarity on the Rodgers ordeal at some point because the Steelers have a team to build.