As Aaron Rodgers visited the Pittsburgh Steelers for a potential deal on his next professional relationship, it seems as if the star quarterback is weighing his options. Though it was reported that the Steelers were kept in the dark by Rodgers, it still is leaning that the team will remain patient on hearing back.
The latest news was reported from ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler who was asked about Pittsburgh’s stance and explained why they are fine with being “pretty patient” in regards to Rodgers.
“They’re willing to be pretty patient,” Fowler said. “My sense is the Steelers remain optimistic here, and they are willing to wait. In fact, I’ve talked to several people in the quarterback market, including in and around Russell Wilson’s free agency, who just figured that the Steelers must have gotten some sort of loose assurance from Rogers at some point that he was going to play there.”
“But it feels like right now the options are Steelers, retirement, or does he want to just wait three to four months on the Vikings to see if they change their mind, which seems unlikely at this point,” Fowler continued. “So the Steelers appear all in, I know they’re doing a lot of homework on draft-eligible quarterbacks to potentially pull the trigger on one of those. They still have their sights set on Rogers. Timeline still is very loose here to figure that out.”
Why the Steelers will be patient with Aaron Rodgers
While there is some hype with Rodgers being on the Steelers, there could be some concern from some fans looking at the 40-year-old quarterback’s time with the New York Jets and the disappointment that ensued. However, ESPN football analyst would speak on how Rodgers could succeed with the team while still being open about the NFL Draft.
“I think ideally you would like to, you don’t want to have this kind of like lingering out there forever,” Riddick said. “But look, I understand how patient they’re willing to be, especially considering when they’re projecting forward relative to how he played last year.”
“At the end of the season, and what they’ve been able to do with their offense, and the pieces that they’ve had added to their offense this year, why they’re willing to be more patient,” Riddick continued. “And number two, I’ll tell you what, I think Pittsburgh, regardless, have to be doing their homework on the draft-eligible quarterbacks and looking at who they possibly could bring into the fold as a long-term solution.”
At any rate, Pittsburgh is looking to improve after finishing last season with Russell Wilson mostly under center with a 10-7 record which put them second in the AFC North, though they were eliminated by the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild-card round.