The mild uncertainty is over. Aaron Rodgers is returning to the Pittsburgh Steelers for one more year. There will be no combination of Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and Drew Allar trying to coax fantasy value out of DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman.
Unless Rodgers gets hurt, that is. He is 42, an age at which bumps and bruises start to have more of an impact on things like walking to the fridge. But he'll be out there, probably putting up bottom-10 passing numbers.
That's been the case the past two years, for the Jets and Steelers. Among quarterbacks to start at least half the time those years, Rodgers averages 18 fantasy points (4-point TD passes, 1 point for every 20 passing yards and 10 rushing yards). That's better than Tua, Geno, Kirk and a couple of youngsters either coming off poor seasons (C.J.) or finding their way (Cam). Not guys you want on your fantasy rosters, at least based on the past couple of years, but at least the young guys can or will get better. The old guys like Rodgers are just hanging on.
| QBS PER GAME, 2024-2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | PYd | TDP | RYd | TDR | Pts |
| Josh Allen | 34 | 217.6 | 1.56 | 32.6 | .79 | 25.3 |
| Lamar Jackson | 30 | 224.0 | 2.07 | 42.1 | .20 | 25.0 |
| Joe Burrow | 25 | 269.1 | 2.40 | 9.7 | .08 | 24.5 |
| Brock Purdy | 24 | 251.3 | 1.67 | 19.6 | .33 | 23.3 |
| Jalen Hurts | 31 | 197.6 | 1.39 | 33.9 | .71 | 23.1 |
| Baker Mayfield | 34 | 241.0 | 1.97 | 22.4 | .12 | 23.0 |
| Patrick Mahomes | 30 | 250.5 | 1.60 | 24.3 | .23 | 22.9 |
| Jayden Daniels | 24 | 201.3 | 1.38 | 48.7 | .33 | 22.8 |
| Jared Goff | 34 | 270.4 | 2.09 | 3.0 | .03 | 22.4 |
| Drake Maye | 29 | 229.2 | 1.59 | 29.6 | .21 | 22.3 |
| Bo Nix | 34 | 226.6 | 1.59 | 23.1 | .29 | 22.0 |
| Trevor Lawrence | 27 | 224.1 | 1.48 | 17.7 | .44 | 21.9 |
| Dak Prescott | 25 | 261.2 | 1.64 | 9.2 | .12 | 21.5 |
| Kyler Murray | 22 | 218.8 | 1.23 | 33.9 | .27 | 21.0 |
| Matthew Stafford | 33 | 256.6 | 2.00 | 1.3 | .00 | 21.0 |
| Justin Herbert | 33 | 230.2 | 1.48 | 24.4 | .12 | 20.9 |
| Sam Darnold | 34 | 246.1 | 1.76 | 9.0 | .03 | 20.6 |
| Caleb Williams | 34 | 220.1 | 1.38 | 25.8 | .12 | 20.1 |
| Daniel Jones | 23 | 224.8 | 1.17 | 18.7 | .30 | 19.7 |
| Jacoby Brissett | 17 | 238.9 | 1.47 | 12.8 | .06 | 19.6 |
| Jordan Love | 30 | 225.7 | 1.60 | 9.4 | .03 | 19.2 |
| Bryce Young | 28 | 191.4 | 1.36 | 16.3 | .29 | 18.4 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 33 | 218.8 | 1.58 | 5.1 | .03 | 18.1 |
| Geno Smith | 32 | 229.5 | 1.25 | 11.9 | .06 | 18.1 |
| Tua Tagovailoa | 25 | 221.1 | 1.56 | 3.7 | .00 | 17.9 |
| C.J. Stroud | 31 | 218.3 | 1.26 | 14.3 | .03 | 17.6 |
| Kirk Cousins | 22 | 234.2 | 1.27 | .2 | .05 | 17.1 |
| Cam Ward | 17 | 186.4 | .88 | 9.4 | .12 | 14.5 |
A more relevant question is whether the guys you actually might want to have in lineups -- Metcalf, Pittman, Rico Dowdle, Pat Freiermuth -- will be OK with Rodgers. And the answer is maybe.
Table shows the top performers (PPR) with Rodgers in Pittsburgh and New York the last two seasons.
| RODGERS' TOP TEAMMATES, 2024-2025 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Run | No | Rec | TD | Rk |
| Kenneth Gainwell, Pit. | 537 | 73 | 486 | 8 | 16 |
| Jaylen Warren, Pit. | 958 | 40 | 333 | 8 | 18 |
| Pat Freiermuth, Pit. | 0 | 41 | 486 | 4 | 25 |
| DK Metcalf, Pit. | 12 | 59 | 850 | 7 | 26 |
| Garrett Wilson, NYJ | 5 | 101 | 1104 | 7 | 9 |
| Breece Hall, NYJ | 876 | 57 | 483 | 8 | 16 |
| Tyler Conklin, NYJ | 0 | 51 | 449 | 4 | 18 |
I'm not excited to have another year of Rodgers, but he'll probably put up functional offensive numbers. While he won't be a desirable fantasy option, Pittsburgh's key skill guys should be decent.
--Andy Richardson

