Mike Tomlin and Aaron Rodgers: What Can They Accomplish?
And how long can they realistically last as a duo?
Aaron Rodgers is officially a Steeler! (Though it’s probably the NFL’s worst kept secret this offseason.) The future Hall of Famer signed for north of 13 million dollars on a one year deal, and now gets to work with a stellar Mike Tomlin. Coaching a 61% career win percentage, 12 playoff appearances and a ring: it’s also worth noting his teams have never finished worse than 8-8 going into year 19 with Pittsburgh. So what’s the plan by bringing a 41 year old in? Winning? Well, yeah. Here’s the argument to why the pair can click.
Prior to the failed stardom of Kenny Pickett a few years back, Tomlin spent his whole career with Ben Roethlisberger. A notorious pocket passer who averaged 5.55 rushing per game started across his entire career. (Or roughly 89 per 16 game season.) Rodgers isn’t far ahead averaging 14.82/GS or 237/season. He’ll move ahead of Big Ben in career passing yards in 2025 assuming he’s healthy; with 1,137 being the magic number. Case in point, they’re both gunslingers, especially with the right weapons. While Ben had an athletic Antonio Brown, Rodgers will have a strong DK Metcalf. It might be unfair to compare prime Brown to a solid Metcalf, but Rodgers has his clear #1. However, a clear #1 wouldn’t be necessary.
2018: Antonio Brown has 1,297 yards and a career high 15 touchdowns off 104 receptions, missing one game. Obviously Roethlisberger’s go-to receiver, right? Well..this was the year JuJu Smith-Schuster decided to explode for his only season above 1k yards. Despite eight less touchdowns than Brown, the 111 catches and 1,426 yards make up well for it. In the same season, the running back committee caught 88 passes while the tight ends grabbed another 86. These numbers with two receivers catching 100+ in a season is impressive. Tomlin will Air Raid any defense and spread it around. You can argue #7 was a little younger than Rodgers is now, and that’s fine! But longevity doesn’t hit #8 too hard. Coincidentally, #8 finished 8th in passing yards and TD last year. Doing this while missing Davante Adams for six games and a competent Allen Lazard for another five? He may be in the twilight of his career, but age doesn’t seem to be the issue. Especially since Ben ended with 5,100 yards in this season at 36 years old.
There is a reasonable window to go deeper than their usual wildcard route. Rodgers, Metcalf, Friermuth. A defense with veterans Cameron Hayward, Darius Slay Jr, prime TJ Watt, mixed in with young bucks Yahya Black and Beanie Bishop Jr. The same 3-4 defensive scheme with Teyrl Austin returning as defensive coordinator for year four. (Who has played with Slay before in SB-winning Philly.) Although the AFC North is competitive excluding Cleveland, this hasn’t stopped the Steelers the last two years. A little more faith in Aaron Rodgers is very fair compared to Pickett or the confusing duo of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields Tomlin went 10-7 with for both.
Per the Pat Mcafee Show, the veteran QB “ain’t in it for the money”. Given the $13 million deal, this proves itself true. The man wants to play football and obviously hoist another Lombardi. Although it’s a one year deal, a lot can happen. Perhaps this is truly the year of the decline. In a Peyton Manning-esque season, Rodgers has his worst season and makes it his last. Pittsburgh could flop, leaving the former first-round pick out of options. It’s certainly possible. No one is timeless. However, if they play their cards right; Rodgers and Tomlin can easily return if 2025 proves to be a step up from the New York Jets franchise.
Whether healthy or not, the two can continue to keep developing current rookies Will Howard and Kaleb Johnson. The former being a 5th round Ohio State QB pick and the latter meant to replace Najee Harris. Retirement isn’t on or off the table after this year. Much like Halloween are Aaron Rodgers retirement rumors guaranteed to occur every year. But we are still in 2025. Waiting to see if they will in fact pan out together. So for now, with their combined 336 regular season wins; let’s see what Tomlin and his experienced QB can do with this crew.