The Pittsburgh Steelers went after future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the 2025 NFL offseason, despite a subpar year with the New York Jets, with the thought that his pedigree would provide them with the upgrade they needed to compete with a loaded Baltimore Ravens roster in the AFC North.
While the Ravens will never discard the Steelers as a threat, they do need to see Rodgers prove that 2024 was a fluke before they will start to genuinely worry about their prospects of winning the division. Rodgers' first play with the team is sure to elicit some chuckles from the DMV area.
Rodgers was intercepted on his very first pass of team drills, which is likely not what the Steelers expected from the quarterback who was supposed to reverse years of poor play at the position. Ravens fans, and the rest of the AFC North, should have quite a good time laughing at this misfortune.
Ravens fans can laugh at Aaron Rodgers throwing INT on first training camp throw
Rodgers is likely to keep the Steelers as a viable postseason contender, as Mike Tomlin's annoying ability to consistently wring playoff births out of rosters with terrible quarterback play should work well with No. 8 in 2025. However, if the Steelers believe they can compete with Baltimore now, that's a bit strong.
Baltimore can not only go toe-to-toe with Pittsburgh offensively due to the sensational play of Lamar Jackson, but they have enough defensive stars to cause Rodgers some real problems if he replicates his same standard of play from the New York days.
With Kyle Hamilton playing like an All-Pro, the addition of Jaire Alexander, and the continued development of Nate Wiggins, Rodgers might have some serious difficulty piling up the passing yards against this Ravens defense, especially when the Steelers have a suspect offensive line.
This is obviously not a precursor to the worst season of Rodgers' career, but Ravens fans can get a little bit of a chuckle from Rodgers immediately starting to look his age once the 41-year-old quarterback put that black and gold helmet on for the first time.