Month: June 2025

Call it a marriage of convenience.

The Steelers was looking for a veteran quarterback who can win now and Aaron Rodger was looking for a team that he thought would be a good fit for him.

So after spending the offseason deciding whether he wants to play, Rodgers agreed to a one year contract with the Steelers at age 41.

It is a gamble for both sides. The Steelers decided not to keep Russell Wilson and Justin Fields and signed Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson and drafted Will Howard on the sixth round. But they preferred to go with Rodgers, who kept them dangling the whole off season.

Rodgers has to prove he has something left in the tank. Last year, he threw for 3897 yards while completing 63 per cent of his passes and throwing 28  touchdown passes and 11 picks.

But the Jets finished 5-12 and the Steelers are looking for Rodgers to get them in the playoffs and win at least a playoff game. Rodgers will be 42 in December and Tom Brady is the only quarterback to win a playoff game at that age.

Coach Mike Tomlin, who wanted to bring in Rodgers, has never had a losing season but hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016,  They’ve made the playoffs four of the last five seasons but  have lost their first playoff game each year.

Meanwhile, the Steeler fans, spoiled by watching their team win six Super Bowls, are getting frustrated with many calling for the Steelers to fire Tomlin.

But the Steelers haven’t fired a coach since 1968 and have had just three coaches since 1969 — Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Tomlin. Art Rooney II, the son of Dan Rooney and grandson of team founder Art Rooney Sr., is sticking with Tomlin.

And Tomlin is betting on Rodgers being the answer for at least one year even though the Steelers are in the same division with Baltimore and Cincinnati. Tomlin and the Steelers will find out this year if he made a good bet. 

The 49ers recently made a big bet on Brock Purdy’s future when they gave him a five-year, $265 million extension.

Now the question is whether Purdy can play well enough to justify  the contract.

There has been much debate about how good  Purdy is and is he more than a game manager surrounded by a lot of talent.

Which is probably why the 49ers have given themselves an out after guaranteeing him $115.346 million for the first three years, according to PFT. If they cut him after two years on April 1, 2027, the can avoid paying him $55.05 million in guaranteed money for 2028. 

So in some ways, there is no pressure on Purdy he will pocket over $100 million no matter how he plays in the next two years. 

On the other hand, he has $55 million at stake depending on how he plays. And the debate how good he is will continue.

As the Eagles plan to bid for a repeat, they will still be able to use one of their best weapons — The Tush Push.

The Eagles are so good at it that a majority of the teams tried to ban it for the upcoming season but fell two votes shy. They need 24 and got 22. Nine teams teams joined the Eagles in voting to save it. Seven were from the AFC and they only play the Eagles once every four years.

The debate at the recent owners meeting in Minneapolis got very intense. Owner Jeff Lurie gave an hour long-speech and concluded it by saying it is “every teen’s wet dream” to devise a play that other teams can not stop so they want to ban it. Then league exec Troy Vincent admonished Lurie for using that phrase with women in the room, which was a strange thing to say. And retired Eagle center Jason Kelce gave a speech endorsing the idea.

The opposition often said it could lead to injuries although there is no history of it causing injuries. Their real complaint is that they haven’t learned to stop it and they aren’t good at doing it themselves. Buffalo is the second-best team in doing it and their owner voted to end it. 

Another interesting fact is that Warren Sharp reported teams are more likely to pass than run on fourth and run even though the sneak is more effective. They even run with a running back even though the quarterback sneak is more effective. They need to implement a better quarterback sneak.

Now the question is whether teams will find a way to stop the Eagles’ Tush Push or whether it will continue to give them an advantage this season.