Pittsburgh Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger and former Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon are among those who think Aaron Rodgers should join the Steelers sooner rather than later if he’s serious about helping the club win games this fall.
During an appearance on Friday’s edition of the “Kaboly and Mack” program, former Steelers safety and Super Bowl champion Mike Logan offered a stronger take about how he and his Pittsburgh teammates would’ve handled the Rodgers saga.
“These teams are a little different than what we had,” Logan said while speaking about Rodgers’ status, Steelers Depot’s Joe Clark shared. “We wouldn’t have tolerated this. We would’ve been like, ‘Yo, you coming or not?’ You know what I mean? Can you imagine (former linebacker) Joey Porter…if Joey Porter’s sitting there in the locker room and we don’t got no quarterback and we’re trying to figure out, bro, he might have seen this dude out in Vegas and punched him in the face or something.”
Longtime Steelers defensive lineman and team captain Cameron Heyward raised some eyebrows when he said in March that his “pitch” to Rodgers would be: “You want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don’t.” Heyward later clarified his comments, and Steelers pass-rusher Alex Highsmith more recently noted that he and his teammates will “be really excited to have” Rodgers if the future Hall of Famer joins the club.
That said, Logan’s words serve as a reminder that some Pittsburgh players probably don’t love the fact that current QB1 Mason Rudolph is learning the offense run by coordinator Arthur Smith while Rodgers isn’t around the team. Pittsburgh’s mandatory minicamp doesn’t get underway until June 10, but history shows that starting quarterbacks are often active participants in voluntary springtime workouts.
“We wouldn’t have tolerated that,” Logan repeated. “…Even if he does have a handshake agreement with the front office about when he’s coming, why keep it behind closed doors and why keep it under wraps?”
There’s no indication that head coach Mike Tomlin feels as strongly as Logan regarding the Rodgers situation, which remained unsettled as of Friday. Nevertheless, one wonders if Tomlin must convince some players that giving Rodgers so much time to finalize a decision will be the best thing for the 2025 Steelers.
