Tom Pelissero: Steelers Fans Should be Optimistic about Aaron Rodgers in 2026

The internet has been spending four months calling the Pittsburgh Steelers an exercise in mediocrity. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero spent his 14th wedding anniversary dinner making the case otherwise.

Aaron Rodgers showed up at the Steelers' OTAs Monday, ESPN's parking-lot cameras caught him walking in with wired headphones, and Pelissero went on the show to push back hard on the take that this is just more of the same.

"I don't think this is a crazy idea," Pelissero said. "I think this has the potential to set up as a very fun and potentially very relevant season in Pittsburgh."

The contract details are not the story. Rodgers signed a one-year deal with $22 million guaranteed, up to $25 million with incentives. Pelissero said the money was never the holdup.

"This guy's made almost $400 million in his career," Pelissero said. "It was never about money. It was about Aaron going through the process and deciding, did he actually want to do this?"

The comp Pelissero kept coming back to was the 2007 Green Bay Packers. Brett Favre at 37, years deep into the will-he-or-won't-he, talked into showing up by his new head coach. Mike McCarthy in his second year. Time on task. Favre ended up the MVP runner-up that season and one Corey Webster overtime interception from a Packers-Patriots Super Bowl.

"That's how close they came," Pelissero said. "Mike McCarthy knows how to build a culture. He knows how to build an offense."

This time, the head coach is the same. Pelissero made the case that what McCarthy got out of Rodgers a generation ago has nothing to do with what he is preparing for now.

"This isn't Mike McCarthy just going blindly into, I'm just going to trust that Aaron Rodgers now is what he was in 2018, the last time they worked together," Pelissero said. "I guarantee you, Mike dug into all the tape, knows exactly what Aaron is. He's not the same."

Pelissero was clear about what Rodgers is no longer. The legs are not the same. The ability to bail out of the pocket and extend plays the way he did his entire career is not the same. The last time he tried it like that, Pelissero pointed out, Rodgers lasted four snaps with the Jets in 2023 before tearing his Achilles.

But the read on last year, in his telling, is more generous than the social media take.

"The Aaron Rodgers last year with the Steelers was not a bad player," Pelissero said. "He was 14th in passer rating last year, around the middle of the pack."

Pelissero said Rodgers played a chunk of the season with a shattered wrist, and he ran through the body-language moments on the sideline that suggested Rodgers was furious about the play-calling under Arthur Smith. That coach is gone. McCarthy is in.

"What were the odds that of all people that were going to get that job, it's Mike McCarthy?" Pelissero said. "What are the chances Aaron Rodgers is going to have one last chance for this beautiful final chapter, and that they can close it together?"

The roster, Pelissero argued, has been built for it. The Steelers traded for Michael Pittman, drafted Jeremy Bernard, drafted two offensive linemen including Jennings Dunker, brought back Cam Heyward, kept TJ Watt and Joey Porter Jr., re-signed Jalen Ramsey, and added Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator.

His patience for the mediocrity narrative is gone.

"Mediocrity is a Steelers team that hasn't been top 20 in offense since 2018," Pelissero said. "Seven years in a row, they're in the bottom third of the league. For a franchise built on defense, they haven't had a top 10 defense since 2020."

The pitch landed on McCarthy's track record. Pelissero said McCarthy has put together a top-five offense in roughly 13 of his 18 seasons as a head coach. Pittsburgh has not had to live there in a long time.

"You could do a lot worse," Pelissero said, "than having a four-time NFL MVP who's coming back with a coach that he knows better than anyone, a system he knows better than any other, and coming in with this beautiful mindset that maybe, just maybe, there is some magic left, and he's going to try to restore it in Pittsburgh."

As for the wife who let him take six phone calls about Rodgers on their anniversary dinner before threatening to leave on the seventh, Pelissero made his apologies on the air. The seventh call, for the record, was a head coach.