Look who's back: Aaron Rodgers signs a one-year deal with the Steelers worth up to $25 million

[True Dough]

Age 42 season. Backup QBs: Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and Drew Allar (drafted in the third round this year).

PITTSBURGH -- Aaron Rodgers' official return, marked by the quarterback expected to sign a one-year deal worth up to $25 million on Saturday, answers one question for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It also creates several others.

Who's the odd man out in a four-person QB room? Does there have to be one? Do the Steelers prioritize a veteran with higher floors or youngsters with higher, yet unknown, ceilings? How will they juggle practice reps between a veteran re-learning an offensive system and inexperienced signal-callers who are still in development?

The next couple of months will answer the bulk of those questions as the Steelers progress through their offseason training, to July's training camp in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and ultimately to the August roster reduction from 90 players to 53 -- plus up to 17 on the practice squad.

The work to solve the Steelers' backup quarterback conundrum begins now.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/48732178/aaron-rodgers-return-resign-deal-pittsburgh-steelers-2026-quarterback-conundrum

[Brother Buzz]

1. $22 million in guaranteed money and could allow him to make up to $25 million with incentives.

Sounds like a sweetheart deal for Rodger’s

[True Dough]

2. Wonder if he'll retire after this season?

While his level of play is falling off, he's still better than at least a few team's starting QBs. He'll surely finish with better stats than Geno Smith, maybe Deshaun Watson, maybe C.J. Stroud, maybe Cam Ward, maybe Kirk Cousins, maybe Kyler Murray, maybe Michael Penix Jr., maybe Bryce Young and maybe Baker Mayfield.

[Brother Buzz]

3. Ego is pretty seductive drug

He ain’t doing it for the dough.

[True Dough]

4. He definitely loves the attention

All the Pat McAfee appearances.

The dragging it out every season before signing so fans can wonder what he's going to do.

He thrives on that stuff.

[Rebl2]

6. Why do

the Steelers put up with that nonsense. They should have set a deadline of March 15 to let them know if he planned to play season 2026. They should let him go after this season and find someone younger.

[True Dough]

7. The "find some younger" part isn't as easy as it sounds

They've had Mason Rudolph for a few years and he's been a below-average game manager.

Will Howard is still a question mark.

And Drew Allar was just drafted. There's lots of speculation about how good he'll be in the NFL.

The fans don't want to wait on the development of a young QB. In a market like Pittsburgh, where the team had a (just barely) winning record under Mike Tomlin for a lot of years, there wouldn't be an appetite for the team to go 3-14 while the QB gets his feet under him.

Next season, they might be facing that reality, however.

[AZProgressive]

5. Rodgers was awful at moving the ball downfield

I think his low yards per pass attempt last couple seasons was similar to Murray's. He probably threw enough passes to rack up good stats but Murray will have better coaching and better players around him at Minnesota especially when it comes to WR. It all depends on if he stays healthy which is likely. I don't think Murray was really injured that severely last year but management/coaches didn't want to play him. Also Rodgers rushing stats won't be as good and can he turn a sure sack into a first down? There is also no guarantee Rodgers will stay healthy either.

He's better than Deshaun Watson & Cam Ward maybe Kirk Cousins but I'd take the others over Rodgers except maybe not Michael Penix Jr depending on his upside which may still be greater than Rodger's.

[True Dough]

8. I am curious to see how Kyler will perform with the Vikes

All of the factors you mentioned are part of the bigger picture. Another key question is whether he's truly committed to being a "student of the game" at this point in his career. He seemed to indicate as much in a recent interview, which is a good sign.

Kyler wasn't, by many accounts, the most devoted/coachable player in his early days in the NFL. He seemed content to just rely on his raw talent. Let's see if that changes.

[AZProgressive]

10. The management there are the ones that slipped that BS study clause in his contract

Then leaked that to the media which created a distraction before a season. The criticism was BS Patrick Mahomes came out and spoke out not for himself but for Kyler Murray & Lamar Jackson. He said at the time he watches tape on Kyler weekly to study parts of his game that he could use for his game. Jalen Hurts also came out and said he modeled parts of his game after Kyler Murray.

A lot has been said over his hobby of video games which is why Bidwell wanted the study clause. Lots of young men play video games it is common but Kyler Murray still prepares weekly and in the offseason.

Kliff Kingsbury had an average record at Texas Tech even though he had his choice of Patrick Mahomes or Baker Mayfield (Mayfield has some things to say about how Kingsbury treated him after his injury) and he comes pretty much from the Mike Leach coaching tree who are known for pass happy offenses but not very physical as a team especially on the defensive side so I think that is part of why his teams collapsed in second half of seasons.

Gannon I had hope for but he's drafted a lot of cornerbacks and he is supposed to specialize at that position but all of them struggled except for the Michigan CB. He's also made boneheaded coaching decisions that cost the Cardinals in games with Murray that they had chances to win such as not taking a field goal or he would sometimes go for 2 early in a game.

With Minnesota Murray won't have any excuses plus he is one a 1 year prove it deal so I think he could do well much like when Plummer played better with Denver after leaving Arizona.

[True Dough]

9. And yes, Rodgers was not good last year.

I wasn't setting out to defend him, just to make the point that he's possibly better than a handful of starters in the league.

And I also agree that Penix could turn out to be decent (probably nowhere near peak Rodgers, of course), but better than what we're seeing from Rodgers today. I also forgot that Tua is now the other QB competing to start in Atlanta, and Rodgers could be better than him too. I hope Tua isn't washed, but after all that head trauma, he could be.