The Pittsburgh Steelers are gearing up for another season of prolonged mediocrity. Like always, Mike Tomlin has a team perfectly constructed to win ugly and squeak out a 9-8 record before getting ousted in the first round of the playoffs. This season, it will be 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers at the commands offensively. We already have budding concerns over his relationship with Arthur Smith.
Much has been made of Rodgers' rocky season in New York. It's clear he has lost a step and is no longer the perennial MVP candidate of old. That said, Rodgers is still a four-time MVP with a preternatural mind for the game. His ability to read the defense and audible at the line of scrimmage is what made him such a dominant force at his physical peak in Green Bay. It can also make him a headache for offensive coordinators.
Over the last couple weeks, there has been a lot of praise for Arthur Smith's ability to adjust to his quarterback. He ran a highly successful scheme with Ryan Tannehill in Tennessee. It was nothing like what we saw with Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder in Atlanta. Last season, he built a nifty dual-threat scheme around Justin Fields, only to pivot once Russell Wilson got healthy.
Rodgers is a different beast, however, and it's clear he expects maximum sway over how the offense runs in 2025.
Steelers' Aaron Rodgers lays out his expectations for Arthur Smith relationship
"I'm going to learn the offense, and Arthur and I are going to talk a bunch this summer," Rodgers told Steelers.com. "If there's things that I like that I'd like to see in the offense, Arthur I'm sure is going to put it in. He knows how to call a game. I know how to get us in the right spot based on what's called. There's two or three plays called in the huddle sometimes. My job is to get us in the right play."
Those comments are sure to elicit completely normal and rational thoughts from the fanbase.
It's way too early to panic, of course, but it is highly unusual for a quarterback to say "I'm sure the offensive coordinator is going to implement everything I'd like to see in the game plan," which is the essence of Rodgers' comments.
Arthur Smith's feud with Russell Wilson doesn't bode well for Aaron Rodgers
For all the blanket praise of Smith as a malleable playcaller who can build around any quarterback, he and Russell Wilson did engage in a semi-public beef just last season when he refused to let Russ change plays at the line of scrimmage. Smith's unwillingness to spice up the offense and lean on star playmakers made him a scapegoat in Atlanta. Then he got to Pittsburgh and blew up his first relationship with a veteran quarterback of significant repute. Rodgers is only more strong-willed and stubborn than Russ, and he will ask for a much larger say in which plays are called and how they are executed on the field.
It's not difficult to imagine Rodgers and Smith growing tired of each other as this season progresses. Rodgers has generally maintained a cordial and positive relationship with past OCs, but there has almost always been a long-running connection. He was in Green Bay for ages. Smith worked under Matt LaFleur in Tennessee once upon a time, so there are elements of the scheme Rodgers ought to know well. But Smith is otherwise a new face in Rodgers' life and vice versa, and there's no telling how each will react when the other (inevitably) pushes back on a suggestion or the execution of a play.
Maybe this all goes swimmingly and Rodgers and Smith become best friends. But frankly, after how last season went for both parties, this feels like an ill-timed marriage.