{"id":919927,"date":"2026-06-15T22:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/919927\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T22:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:30:16","slug":"analyst-blasts-steelers-for-quarterback-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/919927\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyst Blasts Steelers for Quarterback Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"SteelersPittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett in a game against the Baltimore Ravens on Jan. 6, 2024. — Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Dan Graziano of ESPN<\/a> sounded off on the Pittsburgh Steelers for bringing back 42-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers<\/a> for another season. He thinks the Steelers have completely mismanaged the quarterback position since Ben Roethlisberger<\/a> retired following the 2021 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been 10 years since the Steelers have won a playoff game, and the frustration got to be too much for coach Mike Tomlin<\/a>, who stepped down after 19 seasons,\u201d Graziano wrote. \u201cIn came Mike McCarthy<\/a> to replace him, and the Steelers are going in this time with a 42-year-old Rodgers who\u2019s coming off the most meh seasons in the history of meh. They also have Will Howard, who was their sixth-round pick in 2025, and Drew Allar, who was their third-round pick in this year\u2019s draft. Rudolph is still around, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers swung and missed on Kenny Pickett<\/a> in the 2022 NFL Draft. Graziano thinks that mistake has caused the Steelers to be hesitant on selecting another quarterback in the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t a playoff-type team that has taken the quarterback position less seriously than the Steelers have over the past three years. It\u2019s as if the Kenny Pickett first-round flop broke their will and they\u2019ve decided it\u2019s just not worth it to try for real answers,\u201d Graziano wrote. \u201cThe overall roster looks better than it did a year ago, but the coaching change and the refusal to look anywhere else but Rodgers for a QB solution make Pittsburgh feel like a franchise whose ceiling is well established at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PittsburghPittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers during a game against the Baltimore Ravens on Jan. 4, 2026. \u2014 Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now<\/p>\n

Rodgers finished 15th in the NFL in passing yards (3,322) last season, along with posting an impressive 24-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He played in 16 of the 17 regular season games, only missing the Week 12 game against the Chicago Bears due to a suffering multiple fractures in his non-throwing (left) wrist.<\/p>\n

Mike McCarthy\u2019s offense is known to put up points and the Steelers have bolstered their wide receiver corps<\/a> with trading for Michael Pittman<\/a> Jr. and selecting Germie Bernard<\/a> in the second round.<\/p>\n

Former NFL defensive back Logan Ryan thinks analyst and fans need to be careful of doubting Rodgers. At 42, Rodgers is obviously not in his prime anymore, but that doesn\u2019t mean he can\u2019t make noise in the AFC. <\/p>\n

\u201cCan Aaron Rodgers and [Mike] McCarthy go back to their Hail Mary days and catch the magic or are they both past their prime? Ryan asked recently on CBS Sports HQ<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know. I think that Aaron Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks that I ever played against.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a wizard at the line of scrimmage, but he hasn\u2019t always been that the last few years. But I wouldn\u2019t cast him out. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s gonna be completely awful \u2026 That\u2019s gonna be a very interesting team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article: Aaron Rodgers<\/a> Kenny Pickett<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> Steelers News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers News Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett in a game against the Baltimore Ravens on Jan. 6, 2024.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,7,570,6,520,57,2360,426,2395],"class_list":["post-919927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-football","tag-kenny-pickett","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers","tag-steelers-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116756494989166834","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919927","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=919927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}