The Pittsburgh Steelers, in a sense, are becoming the Green Bay Packers of the east thanks to the hiring of head coach Mike McCarthy, along with the additions of assistant coaches with Green Bay ties like Frank Cignetti Jr., offensive line coach James Campen, and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.

McCarthy’s hiring signals a potential reunion with 42-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who had the best seasons of his career and won a Super Bowl with McCarthy. Also, Rodgers has a strong friendship with Campen and has worked with Cignetti before.

So, it seems like everything is lining up for Rodgers to return.

Yet FS1’s Colin Cowherd believes that McCarthy adding Cignetti to his staff signals the end of Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh. The reason? A 2023 report from CheeseheadTV’s Aaron Nagler that Rodgers was so upset with McCarthy’s decision to replace quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt with Cignetti that everything had to be funneled through backup quarterback Tim Boyle to Rodgers during the 2018 season.

“I think the [Cignetti] hiring tells you that Mike McCarthy, this is a very intentional hire by Mike McCarthy,” Cowherd said, according to FS1. “Mike has staff leverage here and I think what he’s doing, what have his two hires been? Frank Cignetti and the o-line coach [James Campen]. I love that the news out of Pittsburgh is offensive improvement. So McCarthy is making his tweaks.

“I think this signals the end of Aaron.”

It’s hard to know if that Nagler report is true or not. He’s a respected media member, and Rodgers did have a strong relationship with Van Pelt. But last summer in his first meeting with the Steelers media during mandatory minicamp, Rodgers did shout out Cignetti.

“There’s something special about, obviously this area,” he told reporters that day via the team’s YouTube channel. “So many great quarterbacks are from Pittsburgh. I feel like Pittsburgh has been a part of my career from the beginning. Playing for Mike McCarthy for 13 years. Having Tom Clements, or Tommy Clements, depending on how old you are, as my quarterback coach forever.

“Dom Capers, Kevin Greene, Darren Perry, Ben McAdoo, Frank Cignetti, Luke Getsy. I don’t wanna forget anybody, but a lot of Yinzers in my life.”

If Rodgers’ relationship with Cignetti was so bad, chances are he wouldn’t have name dropped him.

But he did.

And it seems like the band is getting back together in Pittsburgh.

Teammates want Rodgers to return. McCarthy wants Rodgers to return. There are quite a few familiar assistants on the coaching staff whom Rodgers knows and has relationships with, none better than Campen (outside of McCarthy). So the opportunity is there. It’s just up to Rodgers if he wants to keep playing.

Attempting to signal Rodgers’ time has come to an end because of Cignetti’s hiring based on something that happened in 2018 that had nothing to do with Cignetti seems far-fetched. That’s what Cowherd is good at these days, though.