With Russell Wilson and Justin Fields both out of the Pittsburgh Steelers, former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is left thinking of one scenario: the team signing Aaron Rodgers.
After all, Rodgers met with the Steelers last week and there were rumors of him signing. Despite those rumors, nothing has officially happened. He’s been throwing with new wide receiver DK Metcalf and has made his interest known to the team.
However, Roethlisberger isn’t buying any of it. The former Pittsburgh signal-caller detailed more on his FootBahlin Podcast
“I think Aaron secretly is still holding out for Minnesota,” Roethlisberger said. “Which is why he hasn’t signed with the Steelers. Why else would you not? Why else would you go throw with DK and put it out? Blast it to everybody that I’m throwing to these guys but you won’t sign.
I love the Steelers, they’re like, we don’t need to know right now and they probably don’t because there’s not like a lot of other options, but I would think at some point you gotta be like, hey you need to let us know before the draft. I think they’re going to draft a quarterback, it’s just a matter of how high they draft a quarterback.
Ben Roethlisberger sees the Vikings as better than the Steelers
While Roethlisberger will always root for his former team, he ultimately knows who is better. After all, the Vikings went 14-3 and were one game away from securing the No. 1 seed.
Even though they lost in the Wild Card round to the Los Angeles Rams, the potential is there.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell has one of the best offenses in the league. With quarterback Sam Darnold, he had a career season and lifted the Vikings to new heights.
Could it be the same for Rodgers? Following a rough stint with the New York Jets, he could have a shot at redemption. Funny enough though, his career is starting to be similar to his predecessor, Brett Favre. Roethlisberger elaborated more on this point.
“For a guy that didn’t want to be in Brett’s shadow, he’s following the same teams,” Roethlisberger said. “I just think that he thinks that Minnesota is a more complete and closer team to win a Super Bowl and he might not be wrong.”
This is a rather interesting point. Rodgers always wanted to be his own player. While he’s more than made a name and career for himself, the two quarterbacks are having similar trajectories.
At the end of the day, Roethlisberger hopes that his franchise puts their foot down with Rodgers. They have a late first-round pick, but no second-round picks.
The Steelers have been linked to drafting Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe. Still, it’s likely the franchise doesn’t want a rookie to start Week 1.
Because of that, they’ll need to make clear to Rodgers that he is to make a decision, so the franchise will know what direction to go in, heading into 2025.