Aaron Rodgers will be remembered as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, but the latter years of his career have not seen the same highs as the likes of Tom Brady was able to pull off in his final act. At least not yet.
Now starting fresh with the Steelers, Rodgers is looking to rewrite the final chapters of his story after a less-than-stellar stint with the Jets following his departure from Green Bay.
While Steelers fans are surely excited to see what Rodgers has left in the tank, the minds that make up NFL front offices clearly believe that the four-time MVP has dropped off a bit.
In a poll run by The Athletic, 50 NFL coaches and executives were asked to place this year’s crop of veteran quarterbacks into tiers. Among 34 quarterbacks that were graded, Rodgers ranked 16th on the list, putting him in the third tier of quarterback. He dropped nine spots on the ranking from his position in 2024—a greater one-year drop than any quarterback other than Kirk Cousins.
Rodgers's ranking is still quite respectable, given he’ll be 42 by the time the season ends, and is just a two years removed from an injury that ended his 2023 just a few plays after it began. Kyler Murray sits one spot above him, and Tua Tagovailoa just behind. Trevor Lawrence, Geno Smith and Bo Nix are also in the third tier of the ranking. It’s not bad company to be in, but it’s also not where one might expect a four-time MVP to be sitting.
All that said, Rodgers has done some of the best work of his career when his back was against the wall and people stopped believing. No one in football loves proving his doubters wrong more than Rodgers does, and he’ll have quite the chance to do just that with the Steelers this year.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Aaron Rodgers Now a ‘Tier 3’ QB According to Poll of NFL Front Offices.