Overpay for Kirk Cousins? Ride Mason Rudolph? Let’s face it, says Peter King on the NFL on NBC: Pro Football Talk podcast – there are no good options for the Pittsburgh Steelers if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t want to play quarterback for them.
“What do you think gives you the best chance to win this year? And I think doing whatever it takes to get Aaron Rodgers under center still probably gives you the best chance this year,” King told co-host Mike Florio.
Rodgers has been cagey about his plans for next season. He’s hinted about the Steelers schedule, thrown balls in a workout with potential new receiver target D.K. Metcalf, and kept hopes alive that, eventually, he’ll sign a deal.
Florio said that he’s been told that Rodgers - who claims he’s been dealing with someone close to him battling cancer - has “made the calculation that he's less of a distraction if he's not on the team at all than if he's under contract and he's only showing up sporadically for voluntary offseason work. I guess that makes sense. But it's still a distraction."
Steelers fans are frustrated because the team has never acted this way before. Rodgers, though, is missing out on the best the city of Pittsburgh and its surrounding region has to offer, King contends.
“He's probably rarely, if ever, stepped foot in the city or in the region," King said. "He's never been to Latrobe. The best, far and away, there's not even a number two for the best training camp in the NFL. He doesn't see what the fans are like at the training camp in Latrobe. It's incredible. It's just a great, great scene. It is a great place to be a football player.”
King recalled running back Jerome Bettis, late in his career, turning down a trade out of Pittsburgh that would have offered more playing time. Bettis loved the city too much to leave.
“And so, Aaron Rodgers, does he know that? Maybe he's heard about that stuff. Who knows? But he probably doesn't really know. That's probably one of the reasons why this has taken so long, that he thinks of the Steelers as one of 32. And I got to tell you, (cohost) Mike (Florio), you know it. You've been there. You've been to all these places. The Steelers are not one of 32. They're one of 32, but it's an incredible place for the sport of football.”