For years, the Pittsburgh Steelers had a reputation as a wide receiver factory, consistently churning out star talent. But once those receivers left town, most struggled to replicate their success. More often than not, it was Ben Roethlisberger making the most of the talent. The future Hall of Famer elevated the players around him for nearly two decades. Now, the Steelers are hoping Aaron Rodgers can do the same for a young receiving corps trying to find its footing.
Former Baltimore Ravens LB Bart Scott thinks Rodgers has a better group to work with than many think.
“This is the best group of receivers that we’ve seen him with in a long time,” Scott said via ESPN’s Get Up on Wednesday morning. “He has an established receiver. We’ve seen what he’s done with the guys like Greg Jennings and the Jordy Nelsons. He’s been a guy that has created and made people’s careers that we’ve never heard of.”
Rodgers recently said via The Pat McAfee Show that there are playmakers most people don’t know about that will likely play a large role for the Steelers this year. He didn’t get into the details of which players he was referring to, but it’s easy to assume that Calvin Austin III, Roman Wilson and even Darnell Washington might fall into that bucket.
Other than drafting Jordan Love, one of the big issues that Rodgers had with the Green Bay Packers’ front office was that they never spent enough free agent dollars or draft capital on improving his receiving weapons. Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, Randall Cobb and Davante Adams were all second-round picks over the first decade of his career. There were eight years after Adams was drafted where the Packers failed to draft a significant pass catcher.
There were years where Davante Adams had triple the next-most receiving yards on the roster. Rodgers had to get by with guys like Allen Lazard and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. And he still managed to get back-to-back MVPs in those years.
He isn’t the quarterback that he once was, but the Steelers offer him a pretty decent situation with more weapons than he was used to having for the last several seasons of his tenure in Green Bay. DK Metcalf could instantly become one of the top two or three most talented receivers that Rodgers has ever played with. And I haven’t even mentioned Pat Freiermuth yet as a significant part of the Steelers’ 2025 plans.
If the Steelers are going to contend in 2025, it won’t just be because Rodgers still has something left in the tank. It’ll be because he’s able to elevate a talented but largely unproven group, the same way Ben Roethlisberger once did. With Metcalf providing star power, young weapons developing around him, and Rodgers’ veteran savvy, Pittsburgh might finally have the right mix to revive an offense that’s been stuck in neutral for years.
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