Rodgers Eyeing John Elway Farewell With Steelers

All you need to know to be assured that Aaron Rodgers will - sooner or later - sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers was hiding in plain sight in his Netflix documentary. In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, the four-time MVP outlined his motivation for signing with the New York Jets and then coming back from a devastating Achilles injury that kept him off the field for an entire season.

"John Elway was Super Bowl MVP in his final game," Rodgers said. "I didn't want to leave the game on a cart. I want to leave going out on top."

The Steelers have made the playoffs four of the last five years. The other team courting Rodgers - the New York Giants - are 28-55-1 in that span.

Though there are some - FS1 host Colin Cowherd calls it "50/50" - that believe Rodgers will soon announce his retirement from football, there are reasons to believe he's merely playing his typical power games with Pittsburgh. Dismissive that the Steelers are a heritage franchise ensconced in Mike Tomlin's 18 years of culture, Rodgers is making them wait and, by doing so, showing who's boss in the relationship.

It's fascinating that a 41-year-old coming off a mediocre season and horribly failed two-year experiment in New York has options at all, but here we are. What Tomlin and the Steelers should do is give Rodgers a deadline and stick to it. If he doesn't agree by the set time, sign Russell Wilson.

As Steelers' defensive tackle Cam Heyward so eloquently put it, "I ain't doing that darkness retreat. I don't need any of that crap. Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don't. That's simple. That's the pitch. If you want me to recruit, that's the recruiting pitch. Pittsburgh Steelers. If you want to be part of it, so be it. If you don't, no skin off my back."

Rodgers, of course, loves him drama. And, even more so, loves him some himself.

From going to Egypt during OTAs to flirting with a Vice Presidential run to trying to lure Dr. Anthony Fauci into a COVID debate because "I've done my own research," Rodgers has an irrationally lofty opinion about his insight and intellect.

The Steelers just need a quarterback. They have Mason Rudolph. They may draft Jalen Milroe. Pittsburgh has a much better chance of going to next year's Super Bowl than the Giants, so what are we waiting for?

Rodgers needs to play in Pittsburgh and attempt to cement his legacy. Elway was MVP of Super Bowl XXXIII in his final game. For all his superlatives, Rodgers has only played in one Super Bowl.

If he's the Aaron Rodgers of old, he might lead the Steelers to a championship. If he's simply old Aaron Rodgers, his nosediving legacy might be tainted as the only quarterback to lead a Tomlin team to a losing record.

Either way, it's time to find out.