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Aaron Rodgers signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers is the era-ending Hail Mary for a QB and a franchise

Finally, two sides that needed each other, settled on each other.

In a one-year signing that has the odor of a handshake agreement finalized months ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers have their starting quarterback in the fold for 2025. As long anticipated, it’s a gray-bearded Aaron Rodgers — who at 41 years old will become the eighth quarterback among the NFL’s top 20 all-time passing yardage leaders to take starting snaps for at least three different franchises in his career.

Like many others before Rodgers, it’s a late-career embrace born out of necessity. Half need on the part of a team trying to capture one last gasp at whatever their current roster can be; and half need on the part of a fading quarterback trying to finish his career in flourish rather than frustration.

This is Brett Favre in Minneapolis, Warren Moon in Seattle, Carson Palmer in Arizona, Drew Bledsoe in Dallas. Or, well, Russell Wilson … in Pittsburgh.

The results of those previous unions were mixed — some successful, others middling. But the connective tissue binding all of them is what waited on the other side of the alliance for each of the franchises: some element of change or transition, if not a full-blown rebuild.

Really, that’s what this is about for the Steelers, who as of this moment are tied with the San Francisco 49ers with the second-oldest NFL roster under contract. That’s according to Spotrac’s 2025 salary cap table, which currently pegs Pittsburgh at 26.8 years old. With Rodgers added to the mix, nine starters and key backups will be at least 30 or older when the 2025 season begins, including defensive tackle Cameron Heyward (36), pass rusher T.J. Watt (31), guard Isaac Seumalo (32), cornerback Darius Slay (34), wideout Robert Woods (33), punter Cameron Johnston (33), kicker Chris Boswell (34), and safeties Miles Killebrew (32) and Juan Thornhill (30).

As I wrote earlier in the offseason, this is a roster that needs to win now and has been laced with offseason moves aimed at making the most of a Rodgers addition. Because on the other side of Rodgers is some inevitable change. Either in the form of a micro makeover or more of a traditional prolonged rebuild — with the difference between those two being whether the Steelers can actually find a long-term answer at the quarterback spot.

For one season at a time, that answer is Rodgers — the Hail Mary king in a Hail Mary signing. The hope is that he’s got one last spate of magic left, like Favre with the Minnesota Vikings or Palmer with the Arizona Cardinals. Of course, that was also the hope with the Wilson signing last offseason. Despite not wanting to cast a line out on another aging veteran quarterback, the Steelers are here anyway after watching Justin Fields depart for the New York Jets.

Their only other realistic options this offseason? A trade for an aging Kirk Cousins or selecting one of the second or third tier quarterbacks in a draft that wasn’t considered strong at the position. Having gone down that kind of road with Kenny Pickett in 2022, the appetite to repeat that gamble simply wasn’t there. Instead the wager is on Rodgers, in the hopes that his second half of solid play in the 2024 season was an indicator that he was still regathering himself from his torn Achilles in the previous season.

It’s a move that represents somewhat of a remixed offseason approach for the Steelers, who made the uncharacteristically flashy move of trading for wideout DK Metcalf and then awarding him a monster contract extension. That bold move set the team up to move on from George Pickens, which is being counted as addition by subtraction for the team’s locker room, classroom and practice chemistry.

The Steelers will lean on Rodgers for that latter effect, too, in hopes that his presence will provide an internal spark in the organization the way it initially did with the New York Jets. In that sense, Pittsburgh is banking on the reality that the world will never know what could have transpired in New York if Rodgers hadn’t suffered his Achilles injury and then slogged through 2023 and 2024 in the wake of it.

In the expanse of history and this kind of move, this is effectively the bet the Vikings made on Favre after the Jets crashed and burned in the second half of his 2008 season there. In the thick of a playoff race, Favre’s play cratered down the stretch and the Jets lost four of their final five games. When it was over, Favre’s career appeared to be washed. But what the public didn’t know was that he had been playing with a torn biceps tendon for much of the season — an injury the team hid from the public, which eventually led to a $125,000 fine.

Minnesota banked on Favre’s problem being physical and fixable. And for one season, they were right, as he bounced back in 2009 and delivered one of the best seasons of his career — leading the Vikings to a 12-4 record and the NFC championship game. But the glory was short-lived. Favre’s body failed to hold up a second season with the Vikings, playing 13 injury-riddled and turnover-plagued games before ending his career. But even with that ending, the juice was worth the squeeze for Minnesota. It maximized its roster for a one-season reach and then fell into a hole that was coming as soon as Favre was out of the mix.

This is what the Steelers are staring at with Rodgers. They’re hoping he shows up to minicamp happy, healthy and refreshed, with the Jets nightmare behind him and some renewed vigor to write a successful final chapter or two to his career.

That’s what Thursday’s signing represents. Two sides needing each other and settling on each other. Or at the very least, betting on each other with the last chip each has left.

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