The Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings both have a need at the quarterback position and one insider thinks they may end up having their eyes on the same player: Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers was the Steelers’ starter last season and new head coach Mike McCarthy has already made it quite clear he wants his former quarterback in Green Bay to return.
“I mean definitely. I don’t see why you wouldn’t,” McCarthy said of Rodgers. “I have spoken to Aaron, and so that’s really where we are there, but I was able to sit back and watch the games and watch most of the Pittsburgh games on TV and I thought he was a great asset for the team.”
There is no guarantee Rodgers will actually be back, though.
The future Hall of Famer has three options as we sit here today: retirement, returning to the Steelers or playing for another team.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio doesn’t think it’s crazy to believe Rodgers could choose the third option and ultimately end up with the Vikings.
“I’ll just say I believe that last year Kevin O’Connell was banging hard on the table to have an accomplished veteran to go along with JJ McCarthy, recognizing that McCarthy wasn’t ready to go out there and be the guy and they needed someone else, whether it was Sam Darnold, whether it was Daniel Jones, whether it was Aaron Rodgers,” Florio said on 93.7 The Fan. “Now I saw some reporting that they didn’t want Rodgers because they didn’t want JJ McCarthy to learn bad habits. But I think now that O’Connell is in charge, you gotta look at the options that are available. Obviously, Darnold’s not available. Jones is technically available because he’s gonna be a free agent, but I think he’s gonna stay with the Colts. Rodgers is available.”
“There aren’t many other guys out there. So I could see Rodgers going to Minnesota. It wouldn’t shock me if it happened,” Florio added.
There was no shortage of rumors and speculation about Rodgers possibly going to the Vikings in 2025 with the uncertainty surrounding J.J. McCarthy.
That never happened, though, and there’s a good chance the Vikings regret not signing him after McCarthy was the biggest roadblock to the playoffs in 2025.
The uncertainty surrounding McCarthy still exists after his first full season as a starter and that’s why the Vikings must add a veteran quarterback as insurance.
But signing Rodgers would essentially be kicking McCarthy to the curb for at least one season, and quite possibly forever.
It’s hard to fathom the Vikings doing that, but we would say there’s a greater chance it happens now that O’Connell appears to have more power in the wake of former general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah getting canned recently.
If Minnesota is indeed interested in Rodgers, that would present a problem for the Steelers’ hopes of retaining him.
The Vikings are a better team top to bottom, including on offense, where they have a top-notch one-two punch in Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
If there’s one team we could see Rodgers going to play for instead of the Steelers, it’s the Vikings.
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