Steelers Announce Aaron Rodgers' Jersey Number For 2025 Season

It's hard to imagine the Steelers were going to hand Rodgers No. 12 anyway, as no one has worn it since Bradshaw's retirement in 1983 — and especially after the Hall of Famer ripped the four-time MVP for how he's gone about taking his time to make a decision on his NFL future.

"That's a joke. That to me is just a joke. What are you going to — bring him in for one year? Are you kidding me?" Bradshaw said of the 41-year-old signing with his former team. "That guy needs to stay in California and go somewhere and chew on bark and whisper to the Gods out there."

"The Steelers drafted Kenny Pickett. I liked Kenny Pickett. I liked him at Pitt; I know him; I know what he's like. And when they got him to Pittsburgh, here's what they didn't do: They didn't protect him," Bradshaw continued.

"You throw a kid in there for two years, and you've got an offense that doesn't fit and doesn't work, and they can't run because their offensive line's not even good enough for a run-blocking team. And, therefore, they say Pickett was a failure," he said. "He wasn't a failure, the Steelers were a failure."

No. 8 was ironically the number Pickett wore in his two seasons in Pittsburgh.

And while there was plenty of blame to go around for why things with the former first-round pick went awry, Steelers fans everywhere are hoping this somehow ends up being a better experience than that was.