Should Steelers overpay Aaron Rodgers after last year’s bargain?
The Steelers must decide if last year’s savings justify a bigger deal for Aaron Rodgers, or if the risk outweighs the reward moving forward.
The Pittsburgh Steelers may have found value in last season’s deal with Aaron Rodgers, but the next potential contract presents a tougher question. After getting a starting quarterback at a below-market rate, should Pittsburgh now swing the pendulum the other way? One line of thinking suggests that balancing the books over time makes sense.
As one TribLive's Joe Starkey put it on Friday's " Beyond the Bylines ," the Steelers "got away with underpaying a guy last year, so maybe overpay him. And then when you look at the two years together, you still got a pretty good deal. ” It’s a practical approach in a league where quarterback salaries continue to rise, and consistency at the position is hard to find.
Still, the mechanics of a new deal matter just as much as the dollar figure. Charlie Batch revealed on his "The Snap Count" podcast that he believes Rodgers' representatives are seeking nearly double what he was paid in 2025. Benz explained the challenge of structuring that kind of contract: “Then I think you get to the point when 30 million might be around the point where you just don't throw it all in one season.
You could put 14 million into one season, but if you put 30 million, you might have to defer some of it, make it a two-year deal, so you have some phony ability to brush it off towards next year. That's part of it. ” Ultimately, the Steelers are weighing short-term flexibility against long-term value.