The Pittsburgh Steelers are dancing a dangerous dance this offseason.
It feels like the QB market has already passed them by, to some extent. A Geno Smith trade would've been quite beneficial. Sam Darnold was the best available free agent, and he ended up signing for a reasonable amount in Seattle. Now, Justin Fields — the favorite incumbent in Pittsburgh's locker room and fanbase — is the new starting quarterback for the New York Jets.
Only one flashy free agent option really remains to Pittsburgh. It feels like Aaron Rodgers or bust, with Russell Wilson lurking in the shadows as the fallback option nobody feels particularly good about.
The Steelers lost five straight games with Russ to end last season. He clashed with Arthur Smith and fell apart when the pressure mounted. For all he has accomplished in his career, it's been a while since Wilson felt like a bankable starter on a contender. Rodgers is absolutely the best-case outcome right now, but therein lies the issue. The Steelers are stuck with no good options.
Rodgers won five games last season in New York. Five games total. His individual production was solid, but nowhere close to the lofty standards he set as a four-time MVP in Green Bay. Moreover, Rodgers is 41 years old. He'd arrive in Pittsburgh for a good time, not a long time. And frankly, it doesn't even feel like it'd be an especially "good" time. Rodgers carries more baggage than any other star in the NFL at this point. He's a headache by nature, and he's on the downswing of an illustrious career.
For Omar Khan and the Steelers front office, this feels like gambling not only on the Steelers' future, but their own job security.
Steelers, Omar Khan could come to regret settling for Aaron Rodgers in free agency
According to Mike DeFabo of The Athletic ($), re-signing Fields was the Steelers' preferred course of action at quarterback this offseason — but at "their price," which clearly fell short of New York's two-year, $40 million offer with $30 million guaranteed. Rather than splurging a little bit to keep their 25-year-old upstart in Pittsburgh, the Steelers are left choosing between an undesirable Russ reunion or Rodgers, a controversial shell of his former self.
There are other options out there, such as a deeply flawed Kirk Cousins pipe dream or even someone like Jarrett Stidham or Joe Milton, but the Steelers have let the crème de la crème of available QBs pass them by. The pickings are slim.
It has been a challenge for Pittsburgh to find its franchise centerpiece ever since Ben Roethlisberger retired. The Kenny Pickett experiment failed. Russ clearly ain't it, and Fields felt more like a fungible stopgap than a true cornerstone. Rodgers is more of the same — short-term filler who is destined to underperform expectations and complicate the Steelers' ambiguous long-term plans.
Khan and the Steelers' decision-making apparatus has long felt secure under Art Rooney's ownership, but at a certain point, the folks in Pittsburgh will tire of floating in the middle of the pack. Rodgers might be the lightning rod that sparks change in the Steelers organization. His combustible personality, paired with the natural dissonance between expectations and reality, could lead to an especially potent brew of disappointment in PGH. If Rodgers does sign on for a year or two and flames out, that could be how Khan's tenure as Steelers GM ends — with a high-profile whimper.
Pittsburgh has fumbled the post-Big Ben QB carousel at every turn. Pickett was never a smart bet in the first round. Pittsburgh then missed on a quality QB draft class in 2024 in favor of riding with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields — an over-the-hill veteran being paid to play anywhere besides Denver and a certified bust from the perpetually wayward Bears. Maybe that was not the best path forward.
Now, the Steelers are once again picking through scraps at the position. Rodgers isn't what he once was, and he's almost certainly not the man to break this cycle of mediocrity in Pittsburgh.
Khan's seat will not get more comfortable moving forward. That much is clear.