{"id":143295,"date":"2025-06-19T22:01:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T22:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/143295\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T22:01:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T22:01:13","slug":"aaron-rodgers-most-likely-outcome-per-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/143295\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Rodgers&#8217; &#8216;most likely&#8217; outcome, per insider"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the football world <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nfl\/pittsburgh-steelers\/steelers-news-aaron-rodgers-mike-tomlin-duo-hit-with-underachiever-label-from-ryan-clark\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">predicting what Pittsburgh Steelers&#8217; Aaron Rodgers can bring<\/a> to his new team after a few disappointing seasons with the New York Jets, some people wonder about his long-term future. While some don&#8217;t know for sure if <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nfl\/pittsburgh-steelers\/steelers-news-chris-long-doubts-aaron-rodgers-russell-wilson-upgrade\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rodgers is an upgrade for the Steelers<\/a> over last year&#8217;s starter in Russell Wilson, insider Mike DeFabo of The Athletic speculates on a likely time ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Though Rodgers has been a highly successful player with the Green Bay Packers for a plethora of seasons, it seems his performance has dwindled now at 41 years old. DeFabo would say in his recent column that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6436400\/2025\/06\/19\/aaron-rodgers-steelers-ceiling-arthur-smith\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\u201cmost likely\u201d<\/a> outcome is that Rodgers plays to an average level and the team drafts a quarterback in the first round in the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy far the most likely scenario is that Rodgers plays this season in Pittsburgh at about a middle-of-the-road level, and then the Steelers draft a rookie QB in the first round in 2026,\u201d DeFabo wrote. \u201cThough it\u2019s unlikely Rodgers will stick around for a second season, I wouldn\u2019t completely rule it out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019d need to play well enough to push the Steelers out of position to draft a top QB, the team would need to be wishy-washy about its options, and Rodgers would need to commit immediately,\u201d DeFabo continued. \u201cI\u2019m not sure I see all those things happening, but you never know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Real question to how much Aaron Rodgers \u2018raises the ceiling&#8217; of Steelers<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3417918\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Aaron-Rodgers_6facde.jpg\" alt=\"Jun 10, 2025; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) drops back to pass during minicamp at their South Side facility.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"574\"  \/>Philip G. Pavely-Imagn ImagesArticle Continues Below<\/p>\n<p>Ever since the <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nfl\/pittsburgh-steelers\/steelers-news-aaron-rodgers-officially-signs-1-year-contract\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Steelers and Rodgers finally agreed to a contract<\/a>, there has been massive speculation among fans about how high the veteran can take this team. After finishing 10-7, which put them second in the AFC North, DeFabo would even say that he can see another season where they win nine or 10 games.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome believe Rodgers\u2019 signing turned the Steelers into a Super Bowl contender overnight,\u201d DeFabo wrote. \u201cOthers think this year will be a complete disaster. I predict something right in the middle. If the defense can play at a top-10 level (as it has in each of the past three seasons) and the investments in the offense line help the running game improve, I see the Steelers as a nine- or 10-win team that will be fighting in the final weeks of the season to qualify for the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, he would be less confident that if it came to it, Rodgers could \u2018raise the ceiling enough&#8217; to where he can battle closely with Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, or even Lamar Jackson. Still, DeFabo has them as a borderline playoff contender, comparable to the Houston Texans or the Los Angeles Chargers, among others.<\/p>\n<p>At any rate, Pittsburgh looks to prove people wrong as they open the season on Sunday, Sept. 7, and funny enough, it&#8217;s against Rodgers&#8217; former team in the Jets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the football world predicting what Pittsburgh Steelers&#8217; Aaron Rodgers can bring to his new team after a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,7,6,832,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-143295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-rumors","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114712286725583124","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}