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I know this will shock you, but we're waiting on Aaron Rogers. No. Do you want Aaron Rogers back as your quarterback? Definitely. I mean, I don't see why you wouldn't. Art Rooney, the president of the Steelers, essentially said they would like an answer before the draft. There hasn't been a deadline set on me. The Steelers placed a rarely used, unrestricted free agent tender on Aaron Rogers. If Aaron would choose to go to another team, we are eligible for a comp pick. If I'm a Pittsburgh Steeler fan, I'm tired of this dancing pony show. Like,
we keep doing this over and over again. Welcome into NFL Live, where we start today's show with some breaking news out of Pittsburgh. Maybe the news we've all been waiting for. For that, we bring in NFL Network's lead insider Ian Rapaort. Ian, what's going on today with Aaron Rogers and the Steelers? Well, one of the NFL's longest running dramas, and you covered plenty of the drama right there, could soon be over. Here's my understanding of where the situation stands with free agent quarterback Aaron Rogers. He is expected to fly to Pittsburgh in the next 24 hours and can continue conversations with Steelers brass with Steelers players and my understanding is it is
likely that Aaron Rogers plays football next year and plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, he has had conversations with teammates. He's had conversations with receivers. He's had conversations with the fellow quarterbacks on his team. All leading to optimism that he should play. And I am told finality to his situation is coming soon. Could be this weekend, could be early next week. All possible. But that is the plan. Now, this is not the end of the road, guys. There is no contract in place. They have not had an agreement in terms on what Roger's going to make. He's currently scheduled to make $15 million under the
UFA tender. We'll see if he's willing to play for that. So, that should come in the next several days, but it is likely that Aaron Rodgers at long last will join the Steelers at a point very soon. Likely not yet finalized. We'll take it at this point uh given the way this story has been playing out or not playing out throughout the offseason. Steelers got 16 games worth of Aaron Rogers last season and he finished 23rd in the league in total QBR. Ball came out quickly, but it didn't go far. He was 27th in the league in yards per attempt last season. Rogers turns 43
years old in December. Hasn't won a playoff game since the divisional round of the NFC playoffs back in January of 2021. So that is where we begin NFL Live today. I'm Dan Graziano joined by Jason McCordi as well as Andrew Hawkins and Ian Rapaort who you already heard from. Jmack, let's dive right in here. What are your expectations for this Steelers team if in fact Rogers is back? It'll be much like what we saw a season ago where they're going to be playoff contenders. They're going to be in the conversation and Aaron Rogers is going to lead them in some capacity to get there. Now you're looking at it and
you're saying, "All right, we get Rogers back. Is this team going to be able to get over the hump? Are they going to be able to win that playoff game and get to the divisionals, potentially be contenders in the AFC? I don't see it going that far, but I feel like the Pittsburgh Steelers have backed themselves into this corner where as of today, Aaron Rogers gives them the best chance to win football games over Will Howard, over Drew Aller. So, bringing him back makes the most sense for this team right now. Not only does he help them win games, Groz, but he also is an example in that quarterback room of what Will Howard and Drew Aller should look like, what it looks like communicating
with Mike McCarthy to be able to find success on the football field. Absolutely. I mean, Aaron Rogers is the bridge to whatever the next era of Pittsburgh Steelers football looks like for that exact reason you just talked about, Jac. And so, now that we have him in the building and that's the foregone conclusion, if you look at what the Steelers have done this offseason, they have already been planning for that to be the case. So, I'm I'm sure they're happy to put a button on it, but they drafted with that in mind. They approached free agency with that in mind. And for Aaron Rogers, who we typically debate and say, "Okay, is he going to go to off season? Is he going to be a voluntary workouts?" It's
important to get him in the building this year more than ever because they brought in Michael Pitman Jr., they drafted uh Jeremy Bernard, right? and you mix those with DK Metaf and looking at the weapons that they have offensively on top of a new coaching staff on top of a new play caller like it's very important for them to get that chemistry down now so that they can hit the ground running in the fall because the expectation is that they'll take a step forward with the pieces that they've added this off season. Yeah, it certainly is the hope and having Mike McCarthy who really seems always to have a top tier offense.
Obviously you want Rogers to come and hit the ground running. Couple quick points here. First of all, it does seem like that familiarity has already started to happen with Rogers and some of his new receivers. That is a good thing. The other thing is he has played in the system before. It's not going to be exactly like it was when Mike McCarthy was with the Green Bay Packers and Rogers there and they were winning and all of that, but certainly the language is enough to where he can come in couple OTAAS, a little mandatory mini camp, hit the ground running for training camp. And you guys are right.
This should be a team that is uh very good and maybe takes a step forward from where they were last year. And having Aaron Rodgers in the fold finally at long last like they hoped would happen should only help that. And they will be trying to defend an AFC North title from last year. One of
