Veteran Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward and other members of the locker room are clearly at least a little frustrated over the fact that the team began the third Wednesday of March without a legitimate starting quarterback on the roster as the football world waits to learn where Aaron Rodgers will play this coming fall.
During Tuesday’s edition of FS1’s “The Facility” program, former NFL player and current analyst Emmanuel Acho hit back at those who think Rodgers needs to announce his intentions for next season sooner rather than later.
“The only way I would care is if he was holding his teammates or his own franchise hostage,” Acho said about Rodgers keeping his options open, as shared by Jake Brockhoff of Steelers Depot. “But he owes nothing to the [Minnesota Vikings], he owes nothing to the Steelers. Still, Rodgers, take all the time you want.”
For a piece published Wednesday, ESPN’s Jordan Raanan noted that Rodgers’ “priority is that he ‘wants to win.'” Thus, it makes sense that numerous stories shared throughout March indicated he’d like to join a Minnesota team coming off a 14-3 season that has an unproven commodity in J.J. McCarthy atop the depth chart.
A 2024 first-round draft pick, McCarthy spent his rookie campaign recovering from a full meniscus repair and hasn’t yet taken a meaningful in-game snap as a pro.
Both the Steelers and New York Giants are reportedly hoping Minnesota turns to McCarthy so that Rodgers has to choose between one of the other two quarterback-needy clubs. That will now be the case with NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reporting on Wednesday morning that Minnesota will not pursue the future Hall of Famer.
On Tuesday, Acho took somewhat of a shot at Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger while defending Rodgers.
“I didn’t like what Ben Roethlisberger was doing with the Steelers,” Acho continued. “‘I might retire. I might not retire.’ ‘Cause you owe something, you could suggest, to your teammates.”
Retirement rumors regarding Roethlisberger routinely hovered over the Steelers from at least January 2017 up until he called time on his playing career after the 2021 season. While Roethlisberger was already a franchise icon when he first publicly discussed possibly retiring, Rodgers has no direct ties to the Steelers.
Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer is among the noteworthy members of the NFL community who agree with Acho and think Rodgers deserves to announce his decision “on his time.” Of course, nothing is stopping the Steelers and Giants from going in different directions if individuals within those clubs are truly fed up with waiting for the future Hall of Famer to put pen to paper on a deal.
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