There are few feel-good memories at MetLife Stadium for Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but plenty of players he considers good friends dot the New York Jets’ defense opposing Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Rodgers, 41, spent the past two seasons with the Jets before an inglorious departure in March. His focus shifted to beating the Jets, and everyone else in the path of the Steelers, when he signed to pilot another new team.
“This is the second new, so it’s the new new,” said Rodgers. “I’m loving being here.”
His first season with the Jets in 2023 lasted only one game — the opener — when he ruptured his Achilles. Rodgers started all 17 games for the Jets last season, but the team was in turmoil early, changing coaches in October and crashing to the finish line.
A four-time MVP with the Packers who has won 10 or more games 10 times, Rodgers starts the 2025 season five touchdowns behind Brett Favre on the all-time regular-season TD pass list. Favre, the starter in Green Bay when Rodgers was drafted in 2005, has 508. Peyton Manning, who is in third place ahead of Favre, has 539.
Pittsburgh also went the veteran route last season, signing free agent Russell Wilson after he was released by the Denver Broncos, and acquired Justin Fields in a trade with the Chicago Bears. The results were largely positive with 10 wins and a playoff berth. But Wilson and the Steelers bombed after a 10-3 start and four consecutive losses to end the regular season and a fifth, 28-14 at Baltimore, in the wild-card playoffs. Fields led the Steelers to a 4-2 start before Wilson jumped into the starting lineup.
Rodgers is 153-87-1 in his career as a starter, which equates to a .637 winning percentage. Only six quarterbacks with at least 150 career starts had a better winning percentage (Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, Terry Bradshaw, Ben Roethlisberger and John Elway).
On the other side, Fields is the new guy under center for the Jets, meaning both defenses will know plenty about the opposing passer on Sunday even if Rodgers didn’t suit up in the preseason.
“I’ve been playing 20 years, so I know how to execute in a game situation,” Rodgers said.
The Steelers acquired a No. 1 receiver for Rodgers in DK Metcalf, who had 48 touchdown receptions in six seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. The massive Metcalf, listed at 6-4, 229, and Steelers tight end Darnell Washington (6-7, 264) have Rodgers thinking big about Pittsburgh’s red-zone potential.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, for now, is eager to see Rodgers carry over what he was doing on the practice field in his first six weeks in uniform.
“His arm talent is unbelievable,” Tomlin said. “Not only in terms of arm strength and accuracy, but also in his ability to release the ball from a variety of places. His game management expertise and experience is very evident. His line-of-scrimmage play, weaponizing of cadences, et cetera, his above-the-neck game, is very unique. It’s been a good process. But the proof is in the pudding. I’m sure he’s excited to get into a stadium with us and quarterback for us, and I know I’m excited about seeing it.”
