At 41 years old, Aaron Rodgers is no longer at the height of his powers, a four-time NFL MVP and maybe the greatest thrower of the football in NFL history.<\/p>\n
But in 2025 with the Pittsburgh Steelers, there\u2019s a lot of belief that even with diminished skills, Rodgers can be a winning quarterback<\/a>. That\u2019s what the Steelers are banking on, at least.<\/p>\n It remains to be seen if Rodgers can be that winning quarterback for the Steelers this season, one who takes care of the football and fits well into Arthur Smith\u2019s scheme. So far, the returns in training camp are starting to look promising after a shaky start.<\/p>\n Entering the 2025 season though, Rodgers is no longer a Tier 1 quarterback in the NFL, at least based on The Athletic\u2019s QB rankings. In fact, Rodgers fell all the way to Tier 3, and had one of the largest drops in the rankings from last season.<\/p>\n In the QB Tiers, Rodgers sits at No. 16 overall, sandwiched between Arizona\u2019s Kyler Murray and Miami\u2019s Tua Tagovailoa.<\/p>\n \u201cHe can still see, and he can still fit balls in there,\u201d a former head coach said of Rodgers in the Tier Rankings<\/a>. \u201cHe can\u2019t be dynamic like he was \u2014 scrambling, avoiding the rush and throwing it 60 yards down the field \u2014 but I still think he can play.\u201d<\/p>\n That ability to read the field, have a quick release on his throws with the juice to fit footballs into tight windows is still there.<\/a> The only real concern with Rodgers is the mobility, buying time in the pocket and extending plays on the move. When he was at his best, he was a master of that.<\/p>\n The torn Achilles he suffered in 2023 four plays into his first season with the Jets sapped him of some of that mobility. Though he looked to be moving well late in the 2024 season and has moved about as well as a 41-year-old quarterback can during training camp, he\u2019s not a guy who is going to extend a ton of plays and create out of the pocket.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n In Pittsburgh, there will be some designed rollouts and the use of play-action, which will test Rodgers\u2019 mobility and comfort getting the ball out quickly. But to his credit he\u2019s seemed very open and willing to collaborate with Smith as the two have a good relationship.<\/p>\n That could lead to success offensively for the Black and Gold. The offense just can\u2019t be a pass-first attack, though. Rodgers can\u2019t be the driver anymore. It has to be built around a powerful running game, which will allow Rodgers to pick apart defenses with play-action passing and quick hitters. The pieces are in place. They just have to stick to the plan.<\/p>\n \u201cThey all have to be going into this with eyes wide open,\u201d an offensive coach said of Rodgers and the Steelers.<\/a> \u201cAaron obviously feels comfortable with Mike (Tomlin) and Arthur. He doesn\u2019t need to be No. 1 in the league in passing anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cHe needs to protect the football and throw touchdowns. He can still do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodgers played pretty well down the stretch late last season, showing signs of getting back to being a solid starting quarterback. He took care of the football, was able to move around some and made plays out of the pocket. The accuracy is still there, and the ability to read defenses pre- and post-snap and attack the weaknesses remains a key part of his game.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n That\u2019s what attracted the Steelers to him. Hopefully that part of his game shows up on game days and can help the Steelers get over the hump in the playoffs. That will matter more to Rodgers than where he ranks in The Athletic\u2019s QB Tiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 41 years old, Aaron Rodgers is no longer at the height of his powers, a four-time NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[1586,7,8575,57,4394],"class_list":{"0":"post-280128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-mike-sando","11":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","12":"tag-the-athletic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115011488693618215","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280128","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=280128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}