When the Pittsburgh Steelers hired Mike McCarthy, all signs pointed to quarterback Aaron Rodgers returning to the team. Though it took a little while, Rodgers eventually did. In an offense he knows intimately, the unit should reasonably take a step forward. The offense should not only get more vertical, but Rodgers will also have more capable wide receiver weapons to work with in 2026. However, not everyone expects the Steelers offense to benefit from Rodgers at quarterback. In fact, one analyst ranked him as the second-worst signal caller in the NFL.
Gregg Rosenthal, NFL.com's leading analyst and writer, ranked all the starting quarterbacks on his NFL Daily podcast. Rodgers received a pitiful ranking.
"You have to run a very specific type of offense now with Aaron Rodgers," Rosenthal said of the Steelers offense. "But it's not an offense I want to run … I [have] Rodgers there at 31."
That's certainly not a great ranking for Rodgers. However, Rosenthal's assessment refers to an offense run by a completely different regime, and the Steelers should reasonably take a completely different approach this season.
Rodgers Has a PhD in McCarthy's Offense
McCarthy's offense is much more vertical than Arthur Smith's, and Smith relied much more heavily on the ground game than McCarthy does. That's not to say McCarthy can't run an effective ground game, he has produced numerous 1,000-yard running backs. But McCarthy clearly built his hiring around improving the offense and developing a quarterback of the future, and his track record in that department speaks for itself. Rodgers was a major beneficiary of McCarthy's quarterback development and offensive philosophy.
Rodgers played under McCarthy from 2006 to 2018 and earned his first season as a starter in 2008. Two seasons later, McCarthy and Rodgers defeated the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. Rodgers knows exactly what McCarthy wants to do with this offense. That's not to say the quick passing game won't factor in, but the offense aims to stretch the field and set up more explosive plays. It's a drop-back offense.
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Steelers Made Offseason Investments Toward the Offense
The Steelers traded for Michael Pittman Jr. and drafted two wide receivers in the NFL Draft. They also drafted an offensive tackle in the first round, with Broderick Jones' 2026 season currently in doubt. Pittsburgh will likely still make further moves to address the offense, but the team clearly needed a proven WR2 to execute McCarthy's system. The need for stability at offensive tackle makes it even clearer that this won't be a quick-throw offense like the one Smith ran.
Time will tell how these offseason moves pan out. Ranking Rodgers 31st, second-worst in the NFL, based on uninformed assumptions is baffling. Thirty quarterbacks are not better than Rodgers. You could argue he's middle of the pack at this stage of his late career. But 31st? Absolutely not.
