By Braden Ramsey The SportsRush
Somehow, Aaron Rodgers officially decided to continue his NFL career almost one month ago. From afar, it felt as if Rodgers took years to finally slide back onto the saddle. Yet, even four weeks later, we鈥檙e still stuck in the league鈥檚 annual offseason standstill.
When the dead period is in, some of the sports world鈥檚 biggest personalities are out (on vacation). While Stephen A. Smith is basking somewhere on a beach, First Take is chugging along. This opens the door for lower-profile analysts to step into the show鈥檚 massive spotlight.
Kevin Clark, formerly of The Ringer, is one of those folks. And on Friday鈥檚 episode of First Take, he did just that. Clark was asked if he expected Aaron Rodgers to boom or bust with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2025. The This is Football host predicted Rodgers鈥 play in black and gold wouldn鈥檛 resemble that of his Green Bay days, but would be exactly what鈥檚 required for Pittsburgh to return to the playoffs.
鈥淏oom in the context of what [the Steelers] need from him. He鈥檚 not going to be MVP 2021 Aaron Rodgers. They don鈥檛 need that. They need the 14th, 15th-best quarterback in football. That way, they can do the normal Steelers thing: win 10 games, rely on their defense鈥 going all-in in the context of what they are. It鈥檚 going to work; it鈥檚 just not going to be vintage Aaron Rodgers.鈥 鈥 Kevin Clark
Fellow ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum shared Clark鈥檚 opinion, but with the caveat of it being for 鈥14 games.鈥 He doesn鈥檛 believe Rodgers, 42, will be able to hold up physically for the full campaign because of the Steelers鈥 offensive line. That unit, per Pro Football Reference, ranked 29th in pressure rate (25.3%) last season.