If Aaron Rodgers balks, what are the Steelers' prospects at quarterback?

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers are between A. Rodgers and a hard place.

The 2025 league year is two weeks old, and the Steelers have two quarterbacks on their roster as they await a decision from four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers, though, doesn't appear to be in any hurry to make up his mind about the next step in his career. The first-time free agent took a visit to Pittsburgh last week, spending six hours in the practice facility meeting with coach Mike Tomlin, general manager Omar Khan, team owner and president Art Rooney II and several coaches, including offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

Despite the car wash of conversations, Rodgers left Pittsburgh without agreeing to a deal. The former Jet and Packer is seemingly operating without a deadline even as his options narrow. The Giants, a onetime Rodgers suitor, signed Russell Wilson to a one-year deal Tuesday night, while the Vikings made it clear that 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy is their priority moving forward.

That seemingly leaves Rodgers pondering three realistic options at this juncture: becoming a Steeler, becoming a retiree or waiting until a quarterback-needy team comes calling closer to training camp. But Rodgers has never been one to let others dictate the pace of his decision-making, giving him an indefinite deadline.

The Steelers, though, don't have the luxury of time. They reunited with 2018 third-round pick Mason Rudolph, signing him to a two-year deal and giving themselves a quarterback with starting experience in a room that also includes the Dolphins' seventh-round pick in 2022, Skylar Thompson.

The longer Rodgers' decision drags out, the fewer options available to the Steelers. The same day Rodgers visited the Steelers, 2015 first-round pick Jameis Winston signed with the Giants. Four days later, the Giants added Wilson, leaving few veteran quarterbacks with starting experience available in an already unimpressive free agency class. The closer the Steelers get to the draft -- which kicks off in less than a month -- the more urgent figuring out a contingency plan becomes.

Let's talk about a world where the Steelers don't land Rodgers. Khan said at the NFL combine all quarterback options were on the table, but the Steelers' place setting is quickly being cleared by impatient bussers. Let's take a look at the two most likely remaining scenarios.

Add a new-to-Pittsburgh veteran QB with starting experience

Signing another veteran to pair with Rudolph would signal the Steelers are firmly in the hunt to draft a 2026 quarterback. None of the available options project to be more than bridge quarterbacks to a stronger draft class, and a veteran from this group could compete with Rudolph for the starting job through training camp.

With Winston and Wilson bound for the New York Giants, there are only a handful of remaining available free agent quarterbacks who played at least 25% of their team's offensive snaps for at least two seasons: Joe Flacco, Carson Wentz, Drew Lock, Case Keenum and Desmond Ridder. Teddy Bridgewater technically counts in that category, but he unretired to join the Lions in December a season ago. There's no indication he wants to continue putting his burgeoning coaching career on hold to play another season.

Former Ravens and Dolphins quarterback Tyler Huntley played 27.6% of the Dolphins' offensive snaps in 2024, and he saw action in a shade under 25% of the Ravens' snaps in 2022.

Other available veterans who've started at least one game include Trey Lance, Josh Johnson and Jeff Driskel.

Of those potential options, the most realistic to pair with Rudolph would seem to be Flacco and Wentz. Flacco, who turned 40 in January, has the most recent starting experience. In eight games for the Colts last season, the 2008 Ravens first-round pick completed 65.3% of throws with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Of the available veteran free agents, Flacco is the most similar to Rudolph. While Rudolph, a decade Flacco's junior, is more mobile, they're both strong-armed pocket passers and have a similar stature. Signing Flacco would fall in line with the preference Rooney II expressed in his end-of-season news conference to have a quarterback room with players of a similar skill set.

Though Wentz started only one game last season and attempted just 20 passes, the Eagles' first-round pick from 2016 is an intriguing option if the Steelers forgo the Flacco route. Wentz's last season as a starter came in 2022 with Washington where he went 2-4 to start before breaking his finger, giving way to Taylor Heinicke, who continued to start even when Wentz was cleared to return. Wentz threw 11 touchdowns to nine interceptions in eight games that season, but since then, he's spent a season with the L.A. Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Draft a quarterback

Stop me if you've heard this before: Picking at No. 21, the Steelers need a quarterback, but the top-tier of the draft class lacks depth. The Steelers, of course, were in a similar position in 2022 after Ben Roethlisberger retired. That year, they signed Mitchell Trubisky and selected Kenny Pickett, the first quarterback off the board, with the No. 20 overall pick. But when the Steelers pick this year, at least two quarterbacks will likely be gone in Miami's Cam Ward and Colorado's Shedeur Sanders.

That means the Steelers could either try to orchestrate an unprecedented, blockbuster trade to leapfrog the quarterback-needy Titans and Giants at the top of the draft -- which is increasingly unlikely -- or they could see how the board falls as it gets closer to their turn and make a play for Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart or Louisville's Tyler Shough to compete with Rudolph for the starting job.

"I think Jaxson Dart is in play earlier than [21]," ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said. "Now if he's there, it'd be really interesting. If they love him, you take him. Tyler Shough from Louisville -- look at the size he is. He's got the arm. Ran well at the combine. I didn't see it always translate to the field. And he had those three years of injuries at Texas Tech. He's going to be 26 coming up during the year, but he's going to be in play for the second [round]. Could he go in the first? Maybe. Wouldn't shock me now when you're hearing all this positivity coming out of various people's mouths when I talk to friends in the league."

They could also take a flier on a more developmental prospect with a mid- or late-round pick to join the team as Rudolph's backup. It's also worth noting the Steelers don't currently have a second-round pick after sending it to Seattle as a part of the DK Metcalf trade compensation.

They could look at Alabama's Jalen Milroe, whom Tomlin dined with ahead of the quarterback's pro day, either with a trade back into the second round or perhaps in the third round. But for all of Milroe's positive traits as an explosive, mobile quarterback, his inconsistencies make projecting his pro potential difficult.

"He's just so inconsistent in short, intermediate areas with passes," Kiper said. "With passes that should be layups, [he] just misfires. ... He had games where you could say if he would've bottled that one game or this game and played that consistently, yes, you'd have been talking about him in the mid-first, but it just wasn't, it was the erratic play. The talent is there.

"Second-round probably for Jalen Milroe. But [the Steelers] don't have a two, so if you don't pull the trigger in the first round, you've got to wait until the third round, unless you move up."

Tomlin and the Steelers' brass were also at Texas' pro day, where among other prospects, they saw quarterback Quinn Ewers.

The reality is there aren't many great options if the Steelers fail to land Rodgers. The best-case scenario is finding a couple quarterbacks to hold the team over until a talent-rich 2026 class. And that blockbuster trade idea for 2025? It's a lot more realistic next year when the Steelers figure to reap the compensatory benefits of losing two quarterbacks, a starting left tackle and a starting running back in free agency, and a surplus of picks makes it a lot easier to move up in the draft.

But just getting by with a patchwork quarterback room and the promise of next year is a difficult sell for an organization faced with the increasing urgency of aging defensive stars and a playoff victory drought that extends nearly a decade. Rodgers might not be the answer to ending that streak, but there aren't any other obvious solutions out there, either.