Steelers reportedly made offer to QB other than Justin Fields, Aaron Rodgers

As of Tuesday afternoon, it seemed that New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers would eventually agree to a deal with either the Pittsburgh Steelers or the New York Giants after Justin Fields agreed to a two-year, $40M deal to serve as Rodgers' replacement. 

According to Josh Carney of Steelers Depot, The Athletic's Chase Daniel, former NFL QB, revealed during Tuesday's edition of FS1's "The Facility" program that Pittsburgh previously made an offer to Sam Darnold. Darnold, the top quarterback of this free-agency class, agreed to a three-year, $100.5M deal to leave the Minnesota Vikings for the Seattle Seahawks. 

Daniel added that the money attached to Pittsburgh's proposal "wasn't as much as" what the Seahawks will be paying Darnold. Daniel also said that Darnold preferred to play under Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak rather than under Pittsburgh OC Arthur Smith. 

Kubiak was the San Francisco 49ers' passing game coordinator when Darnold was a backup with that organization during the 2023 season. 

"He felt more comfortable with the offense that they run," Daniel said about Darnold picking Seattle over Pittsburgh. Kubiak's offense is similar to what Darnold had playing under Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell this past campaign. According to Pro Football Reference, Darnold ended the 2024 regular season ranked fifth in the league with 4,319 passing yards, fifth with 35 passing touchdowns and sixth among qualified quarterbacks with a 102.5 passer rating. 

Mike DeFabo of The Athletic noted on Tuesday that the Steelers "did want Fields to be their quarterback in 2025" but only "at their price." Darnold would always be a more expensive option than Fields, so one could assume that the Steelers even touched base with Darnold's camp during the legal tampering portion of free agency, suggesting re-signing Fields was never Pittsburgh's preference. 

ESPN's Rich Cimini and others pointed out that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin seemed to say plenty regarding his thoughts of Fields when Tomlin benched the 26-year-old in favor of veteran Russell Wilson this past October after Fields went 4-2 as a starter. It now appears Tomlin and Co. were never all that serious about re-signing Fields unless he gave the Steelers a significant hometown discount.