Aaron Rodgers is still a free agent, in a sentence that just won’t change no matter how long the offseason goes on.
The Pittsburgh Steelers could still use a better quarterback than Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and Skylar Thompson.
Yes, they’re still a logical match, and pretty much the only dance partner each other has left to choose from.
And that, writes Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, puts Rodgers in control.
Everyone wants to know when he’ll show up. Florio makes it clear in a new article out Tuesday.
“When will Rodgers show up?” Florio asks himself, then continues. “The answer is equally obvious: Whenever he wants.”
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Florio goes on to point out that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin set the start of training camp as a barrier line to entry. But as Florio writes, why would that hold up if Rodgers decides to take longer?
“But, really, if the depth chart consists of Rudolph, Skylar Thompson, and Will Howard, would the Steelers say no if Rodgers shows up in the middle of August, like Brett Favre did with the Vikings 16 years ago?” Florio writes.
It is pretty amusing how many Rodgers and Favre parallels there are.
Rodgers, for his part, has said that personal off-the-field matters have kept him from signing and joining his new team. The implication is that the maneuver is coming, it just needs its time to get across the finish line
It does hold the Steelers captive a little bit, although Tomlin has made clear he’s a big fan of Rudolph and would be fine with him as the starter if that’s the way the chips fall.
The Steelers should still wind up with the 41–year old future Hall of Famer. But the path to getting there doesn’t have a firm end point yet, because Rodgers is holding the whole deck of cards in his hands.
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