One of the most intriguing free agents still on the NFL market is quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is expected to be officially released by the New York Jets when the new league year begins at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
Rodgers has been able to speak with other teams about finding a new home after a failed two-year tenure in New York, and two teams that have come out as supposed frontrunners are the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants.
The Steelers are more win-now than the Giants. Pittsburgh was a playoff team last season, while New York was 3-14. Pittsburgh also made a huge move, bringing in wide receiver D.K. Metcalf in a blockbuster trade with the Seattle Seahawks.
The Steelers would provide Rodgers with a good roster to get the job done each week. However, one team legend does not believe it would be a match made in football heaven.
ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, who played eight of his 13 NFL seasons with the Steelers while winning a Super Bowl with the franchise, used the famous Disney film “The Lion King” to explain why he feels Rodgers and the Steelers could lead to a “garbage season.”
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“Let’s say you put Scar on the team – you know, Scar from the ‘Mufasa’ movie and ‘The Lion King’ right?” Clark told his colleagues on ‘Get Up.’ “Here it is: Mufasa is trying to be Scar’s brother. Do you know what Scar’s name was before Scar? It was Taka. Do you know what Taka meant? Garbage, wasted. That’s exactly what can happen if you bring Aaron Rodgers in there. You could have a wasted season, you could have a garbage season.”
Clark backed up his opinion on Rodgers joining his former team by saying it had nothing to do with the four-time MVP quarterback gelling with head coach Mike Tomlin. Instead, he believes working alongside offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who joined Pittsburgh in that role last season, could be a challenge.
“You could have a locker room that has to adjust to not only Aaron Rodgers, but Arthur Smith and Aaron Rodgers trying to figure out who’s going to win the battle of what they want the offense to be,” Clark explained. “They know what Arthur Smith wants: He wants to run the football, he wants to get some play-action pass. That’s not the way Aaron Rodgers likes to play football.
“So, it isn’t about the personality of Mike Tomlin mixing with anybody, because he can coach anybody, relate to anybody, he can motivate anyone. But does it work with the X’s and O’s, and when the X’s and O’s don’t work, and Omar Khan, the general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers, says, ‘OK, this piece isn’t working. Do we have to start it all over again in Pittsburgh and find a new quarterback?’”
Clark then got more animated when discussing the personalities of Rodgers, as well as his top receivers if he were to go to Pittsburgh, calling them all “crash outs.”
“Yes, it looks great. It looks great that you got D.K. Metcalf and George Pickens out there, but you got two crash outs,” Clark said. “You’re going to have two crash outs at wide receiver, and then add the quiet crash out at quarterback? Hell no. This is not something that I feel in my soul as someone that loves the black and gold, I don’t get all warm and tingly thinking about this.”
If Rodgers does not head to the Steelers, Russell Wilson, who was the team’s starter last season, is also a free agent and could head back to Pittsburgh.
Rodgers’ 20th NFL season wasn’t what he planned, going 5-12 as the Jets’ starter with 3,897 passing yards with 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
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