There's a lot of speculation over whether quarterback Aaron Rodgers will play next year for the Steelers, or for the Vikings, or for some other team, or retire.
The question I don't see being asked is why any NFL team would be interested in signing Rodgers.
The four reasons/roles for Rodgers, none of which really make any sense:
- As a starting QB? He was in decline before he left the Packers for the Jets, and he was a disaster for the (admittedly already disastrous) Jets.
- As a backup QB? Why would you spend big money on an old and busted Rodgers when you could sign any number of less old, less busted, less expensive quarterbacks -- or just draft a quality player right out of college and have your starter mentor/train him up in the team's system?
- As a mentor for a young starter? He'd be a very expensive mentor, and he's the last gasp of a previous, pre-Mahomes school of quarterbacking.
- As some kind of marketing/branding coup to increase ticket sales / TV audience interest? That's back to starting QB territory (nobody buys a ticket or watches a game because of the backups/bench/mentors), and even the fairly strong love/hate people harbor for Rodgers would quickly turn to boredom after a few terrible games or yet another early-season injury.
Rodgers should have retired when he left the Packers. Now it's just getting silly.
