Aaron Rodgers showed out in his Steelers debut against the Jets, but one game won’t silence the questions — he still has to prove he can thrive in today’s NFL, his way.
At nearly $400 million, Aaron Rodgers has earned more money than any player in NFL history. He’s a four-time MVP, one-time Super Bowl MVP, and an all-time great — a legend who will never be forgotten. In other words, he doesn’t have to do this football player thing anymore if he doesn’t want to.
Rodgers, however, clearly does still want to play and perform at a high level. At 41 years old, Rodgers made his debut for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday against the New York Jets, the team he played for the last two seasons, resulting in nothing short of a spectacular failure as he tried to prove he can still thrive away from the Green Bay Packers. We could talk at length about the torn Achilles four plays into his nationally televised opening game that ended his fourth season, the behind-the-scenes machinations that led the Jets to fire head coach Robert Saleh midway through his second season, or the very public manner in which he was booted out the door in a public statement.
It became very obvious Sunday afternoon that a motivated, pissed off Rodgers with something to prove can still be a high-level NFL quarterback even into his 40s. Rodgers completed 22 of his 30 passes for 248 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions in Pittsburgh’s thrilling 34-32 win over New York. It was the 28th game of his career throwing for at least four TD with no picks in a game, tying Tom Brady for the all-time record. Only Brady and Drew Brees now have more four-TD games than AR.
Revenge was definitely Rodgers’ biggest motivating factor against Gang Green, telling reporters after the game that “I was happy to beat everyone associated with the Jets.” Not to get into Rodgers’ head too much, which we’ve learned in many different ways is a dangerous game, but there was little doubt that someone with his competitive, absurdly-driven mindset didn’t want to finish his career the way things turned out a season ago.
Although he threw 28 TDs to just 11 interceptions last season, the Jets went 5-12 under his leadership with a 44.7 QBR that ranked 25th out of the league’s 32 starting signal callers. Instead of ending his 20-year, Hall of Fame career, Rodgers inked a one-year, $13.65 million deal with the Steelers that included $10 million guaranteed and incentives that can take the deal up to $19.5 million. In New Jersey on Sunday, Rodgers was loudly booed by the MetLife Stadium crowd, where tens of thousands of fans were certain he had nothing left in the tank.
“There were probably people in the organization that didn’t think I could play anymore,” he said, “so it was nice to [show] those people I still can.”
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Rodgers performing well against the Jets with all the juice and motivation in the world is one thing, but he still has to prove he can guide a winning franchise the rest of the season during mundane games like a 1 p.m. Week 2 game against Seattle or a Week 3 contest in New England. Can he consistently get up for games all year long and reproduce the elite ball he displayed against New York?
While he clearly doesn’t need the money, Rodgers will receive $500,000 for Pittsburgh making the playoffs, $600,000 for making the divisional round, $1 million for making the Super Bowl, and $1.5 million for winning the championship. He’s out to prove that he can still compete with the best quarterbacks in the league and that his last dance is on his own terms.
With his Jets tenure behind him and the bad taste in his mouth gone, Aaron Rodgers now has the chance to live out an ending to his career that he feels he deserves.
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