Player: QB Aaron Rodgers
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Still battling a wrist injury, Aaron Rodgers had easily one of his best games of the season against the Ravens. On 34 pass attempts, he completed 23 for a season-high 284 yards. While he only threw one touchdown pass, he also ran for another, his first since 2022. You know it’s going to be a good day when he breaks out the Discount Double Check move.
Mike Tomlin said after Sunday’s win that games like that are why you do business with a guy like Aaron Rodgers. If that’s the Aaron Rodgers who’s going to show up, then it’s a pleasure doing business with you. On the whole, he looked his sharpest of the season, especially down the field.
Rodgers has also been moving as well as he has in years, scrambling for a touchdown against the Ravens and deftly avoiding sacks. For most of the season, he has struggled to extend plays, but he made that happen Sunday. He found DK Metcalf and Ben Skowronek on scramble drills down the field for big gains, for example.
It was surely this Aaron Rodgers that Mike Tomlin and the Steelers envisioned while awaiting his ultimate decision. While they apparently had reasonably foreknowledge of his intentions, the reality is he wasn’t a Steeler until he signed a contract in early June.
Now, Rodgers is probably not making the Pro Bowl this year or anything—then again, Tyler Huntley made one since so many people back out due to hangnails at this point—but he has provided arguably the soundest quarterback play the Steelers have had in about half a decade.
Over 12 games, Rodgers is 225-of-344 passing for 2,370 yards with 20 touchdowns to 7 interceptions. Russell Wilson played about as much last season, and while he did throw for more yards and fewer interceptions, the Steelers simply scored less. There have been some lulls, but they are 14th in scoring, putting up 1.3 more points per game than last year. In fact, they’re at their highest mark since 2020. And that has a lot to do with what Rodgers has brought to the Steelers, like him or not.
With regular season underway and the roster in place, it’s once again time to “take stock”. It took a while, but we finally saw some of that change the team talked about after the season ended. Certainly, the move to trade for WR DK Metcalf qualifies as a change, not to mention the accompanying contract. Oh, and they also traded some guy named George Pickens, which people found significant.
After a long offseason, we finally know what this Steelers team will look like for the 2025 season. The dust is long settled on both free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft, and now we’re into the real thing. What final moves might the team make, if any? They’ve certainly made a flurry of moves, though some question whether they make much difference. This is a Steelers team starving for postseason success, but how desperate are they for a playoff win in 2025?
