The Pittsburgh Steelers are wasting no time hyping up Aaron Rodgers ahead of his 21st season. What the Steelers are forgetting is Rodgers is old and his mobility isn’t what it used to be. So being impressed at this point in the preseason really doesn’t mean much. And if anything from last year is any indication, he’s not the quarterback he was in Green Bay.
Calvin Austin III hyped up Rodgers during an offseason workout, which is good the two are getting a chance to work together ahead of the season. But the biggest problem in this evaluation is will Rodgers actually be able to elevate this offense.
“His mindset is, ‘We’re going to do this because I know what the defense is gonna do and they don’t wanna do this.’ You see that experience, and playing with a Hall of Fame quarterback, it’s gonna be special. Sometimes, you can be given too much,” Austin said to Action News 5. “But he lets you play football.”
When he got to New York, he was supposed to be their savior and help them end their playoff drought. That flopped. He’s supposed to come to Pittsburgh and help them win their first playoff game in 10 years. History is proving he’s not the right person to do that.
Pittsburgh Steelers are going to come to same realization the New York Jets did last year
The Jets found out early on that Rodgers is old. The Steelers put all their eggs in the Rodgers basket this offseason and they’re about to come to that same realization. What made Russell Wilson good for the Steelers was he was able to be productive as a passer and runner.
Rodgers isn’t going to be nearly as mobile as he was early in his career. And with some of his accuracy issues last year, can he even throw the ball like he used to, let alone like the Steelers need him to? Pittsburgh has enough weapons on this offense that Rodgers should have to do a lot.
Aaron Rodgers isn't the answer for the Steelers
But the pressure on Rodgers is to win the postseason for Pittsburgh. The Steelers don’t need a quarterback that can just win games during the regular season. They went after Rodgers because he’s the one they felt would be good enough to win games in January too.
Rodgers receiving praise now doesn’t mean much. He’s been in the NFL for 20 seasons, there isn’t much left that he can do to impress his teammates. The only thing he has left to impress Pittsburgh fans is winning playoff games. That’s why Pittsburgh signed him and pursued him aggressively.