{"id":2371,"date":"2025-07-11T20:05:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T20:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/2371\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T20:05:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T20:05:03","slug":"doug-whaley-steelers-could-have-drafted-aaron-rodgers-in-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/2371\/","title":{"rendered":"Doug Whaley: Steelers could have drafted Aaron Rodgers in 2005"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twenty years after he was drafted by the Packers, quarterback Aaron Rodgers is a Steeler. He could have been a Steeler 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

Appearing on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh, former Steelers pro personnel director Doug Whaley said that, as Rodgers plunged through the first round, the Steelers were watching the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have had to [trade up],\u201d Whaley said, via Nick Farabaugh of PennLive.com. \u201cWe would\u2019ve just sat there. We had him higher than that. We were surprised he was slipping<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Packers ended the slide at No. 24. The Steelers didn\u2019t pick that year until No. 30. (They took tight end Heath Miller.)<\/p>\n

If Rodgers had been on the board at No. 30, what would the Steelers have done? They\u2019d used a first-round pick in 2004 on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who helped the team to a 15-1 record and a berth in the AFC Championship. <\/p>\n

Rodgers is the objectively better passer. But Roethlisberger won two Super Bowls. But Rodgers beat Roethsliberger in a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

And in the first Super Bowl won by the Steelers since the 1979 season, Roethlisberger didn\u2019t have a stellar day. He completed nine of 21 passes for 123 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions in the 21-10 win over the Seahawks. (He also rushed for 25 yards and a touchdown on seven attempts.)<\/p>\n

What would Rodgers have done in Pittsburgh, as a rookie and beyond? We\u2019ll never know. But we will know how he does in 2025, four years after Roethlisberger retired. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Twenty years after he was drafted by the Packers, quarterback Aaron Rodgers is a Steeler. He could have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-2371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}