Former New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers seemingly has one less team to choose from in NFL free agency. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (h/t Nick Shook) reported Wednesday that the Minnesota Vikings are “not pursuing Rodgers” and will instead focus on J.J. McCarthy, despite the 2024 first-round draft pick not playing as a rookie after undergoing full meniscus repair last summer.
ESPN NFL analyst Bill Barnwell suggested that Rodgers and the Vikings were never a great fit for each other in the first place.
“The Jets ran a static offense that tried to compensate for his lack of mobility after the Achilles injury (in September 2023),” Barnwell wrote about Rodgers. “They also played to Rodgers’ desires by having little pre-snap motion and avoiding plays under center. The Vikings aren’t that offense. They ranked ninth in the league in motion percentage (64.2%) and fifth in play-action rate (29.6%) last season. They were under center on 48% of their snaps. The Jets were under center about half as often. A 31-year-old Rodgers might have easily adapted to (Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell’s) style. Would a 41-year-old Rodgers have the same flexibility?”
O’Connell and Co. may have had similar questions about the future Hall of Famer after Sam Darnold, 27, guided the club to a 14-3 season. The Vikings let Darnold reach free agency earlier this month, and he ultimately signed a three-year, $100.5M contract with the Seattle Seahawks.
ESPN’s Jordan Raanan shared that Rodgers’ “priority is that he ‘wants to win.'” Justin Fields and Russell Wilson helped the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers get to 10-3 before that club closed its season with a five-game losing streak, while the New York Giants are coming off a 3-14 campaign.
“The Steelers are the better option,” Barnwell added about Rodgers’ ongoing offseason journey. “They’ve posted the league’s second-best winning percentage over the past four years when scoring at least 20 points (.839). …As a safe pair of hands who won’t blow the game, Rodgers makes some sense in Pittsburgh. The Steelers thrive when they win or tie the turnover battle, and he has the best interception rate (1.4%) in NFL history. Even throughout the failures last season, he followed a slow start by protecting the football. He threw 18 touchdowns against four picks over his final 10 games. That version of Rodgers would win a lot more games in Pittsburgh than he did in New York (five last season).”
Perhaps Pittsburgh was always the best landing spot for Rodgers, regardless of his desire to join the Vikings this offseason. That said, the four-time regular season Most Valuable Player could decide he’s taken enough punishment throughout his lengthy NFL career and choose retirement over featuring for the Steelers or Giants.
