Report: Rodgers will visit PIT, expected to sign
Mike Florio and Michael Holley discuss reports surrounding Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers, questioning how much money is playing a factor in the situation.
Video Transcript
You know, you have, you have, brill- I don't know if you did this on purpose.
You have brilliantly, set us up for the first topic.
Aging performer in Pittsburgh, do you wanna go, do you want to invest to see him perform?
Does but you didn't say, "Does he still have it?"
'Cause I think, I think the boss still has it, but does Aaron Rodgers have the- He still has it It's a perfect, it's a perfect transition.
That's, that's a don't try this at home.
Very professional.
Yeah, and I had, like everything else that we ever do, or at least that I do sitting here, I gave no thought to that whatsoever.
But I was actually on my way to Pittsburgh yesterday, working during the drive.
Because, you know, the show must go on, both on air and on the digital platform.
And as I was in the backseat making my way to Pittsburgh for some, a doctor appointment I had to take care of, which nothing, I'm, I'm fine.
You, you can't, you're not getting rid of me anytime soon anybody out there who's got your fingers crossed that I'm going to announce that, you know, I'll be dead soon.
But the- tweets started to come in that Aaron Rodgers is on his way to Pittsburgh, visiting Pittsburgh.
I could have picked him up at the airport if we would've timed it right.
Could've given him a ride, save a little money.
He would've loved that.
Save a little Uber money.
I don't know.
He'd love it.
He Yeah, oh, oh, I'm, I'm sure he would.
But, he was visiting Pittsburgh, and then it started to get weird.
Like, the initial report, and actually the first report came through during the show yesterday.
Like, in the second hour of the program, 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh reported that, and they may have reported it earlier, I just became aware of it during the second hour of the show.
Rodgers is visiting Pittsburgh and he's expected to sign a contract, which the second half makes sense.
Like, he's not just coming back to hang out, I think.
Who knows?
And then that got the others, the insiders, to start chasing the story, and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network/ESPN, he reported that a visit is happening, but that there's no deal done yet.
And there were some subsequent tweets from Rapoport.
And Michael, it became clear to me that at any time that anyone connected to one of these transactions, potential transactions, says it's not about money, we know it's about money.
And if he's coming to town and there's no report that they've reached a tentative agreement, then it's about money.
What else could it be?
Right.
There isn't much to negotiate- Right.
Exactly in an NFL contract.
It's money and structure of how the payment's gonna be made.
Everything else is standard.
There's a standard deal that has all the terms, and then the amendments, the addenda to the deal, they're all about money.
Bonuses, guarantees, et cetera.
So the only thing to negotiate is money.
So if he's coming to town and a deal isn't done in principle, it's necessarily about money.
And I started getting calls from people, 'cause it's funny, what happens is because everybody in the NFL ecosystem reads PFT, I wish we could saturate the rest of the world the way we've saturated the business.
I start getting calls from people who read what we wrote, and one guy called me and he said, "No, no, no, it's n- it's not about money."
It's like, well, how, then, then where, then where's the report that a deal's done?
The mere fact that there isn't a report that, that a deal's done tells you it's about money.
It's clearly about money.
And why wouldn't it be?
The Steelers got him last year for 13.65 million.
When you get something cheap, you tend to want to continue to get it cheap.
And Rodgers- Sure if this is his position, I w- it's embarrassing.
And I know, "Oh, how can he pay his bills for 13 million?"
Folks, don't, don't, get, get out of here with that, 'cause I know that there's gonna be somebody that's gonna say, "Oh, we feel so bad for Aaron Rodgers only making $13 million, we're struggling to get by."
I understand people are struggling to get by, but this is a world in which the owners are making billions, and there's a salary cap system- Yeah that guarantees the players are gonna get half the money.
And when the top of the market is 60 million for this highly specialized skill set, that it requires the person who uses those skills to take serious physical risks every time they step out onto the field, there is value in that.
And 13.65 million is below Aaron Rodgers' value.
So what do they wanna pay?
What does he wanna make?
And they haven't reached a deal yet.
They haven't reached a deal yet, unless, unless it's already come through my phone- Listen and I've missed it, they haven't reached a deal yet.
It's below the value of most, starting veteran quarterbacks, in the league.
Of, of let's say, you know, seven years or more.
If you're a starting quarterback, you're usually making more than $13 million a year.
So you said when you get something cheap, you wanna g- you wanna run it back.
That's true for the Steelers or anybody else, but also what complicates it a little bit, and I'd say a little bit, because I think a deal will get done, Mike.
What complicates it for the Steelers is who are we bidding against?
We're not really bidding against anybody.
Like, what's, what's his leverage?
His leverage is, I guess, this might scare them a little bit.
I don't think it should, but this might scare them.
If they really want Aaron Rodgers to be their quarterback, he could easily say, "Pay me this or I'm gonna retire."
It's not pay me this or I'm gonna go, to another team in the division.
That's not happening.
I'm gonna go to another team in the AFC.
That's not happening.
I don't think Arizona, I heard you guys talking about it yesterday, I agree with you.
I don't think that's gonna happen.
That doesn't make sense for him.
So hi- his leverage is I'm your, you don't have anybody better, so if, if I don't take this deal, you are left with either Will Howard, second year guy.
You're left with the rookie Drew Aller or Mason Rudolph, and I don't think you like that.
I don't think you like those options, so sign me.
That's it.
So a- with that, I think he wants to play, and I think the Steelers want him to be the quarterback, so maybe they'll come up with something, you know, to mess around with the language, some incentives or something like that.
But I don't think there's any long negotiation here, because there's really not a lot of options for Aaron Rodgers.
