Jerome Bettis understands why some players around the Pittsburgh Steelers are growing frustrated with Aaron Rodgers still being unsigned. But Bettis said the team had no real alternative at quarterback, and that Rodgers has earned some patience after the club took a gamble on the 41-year-old four-time MVP.
“When you have no alternative, then you have no choice,” Bettis said, framing the Steelers’ wait on Rodgers as a byproduct of limited options rather than indecision. He added that Rodgers is one of those players “afforded a little bit more latitude than others,” especially when a team is thin on depth and experience at quarterback.
Rodgers remains a free agent, and that leaves Pittsburgh in the same uneasy spot it has occupied for weeks as it waits for his decision. Bettis said the delay has a practical upside: it gives the Steelers’ No. 2 quarterback more reps, while younger players get a chance to run the offense and learn it as they go. “There is an opportunity for our number two guy to get a lot of reps, a lot of opportunity,” Bettis said. “So there's some positives to this, because you're letting the young guys get an opportunity to run the offense and kind of learn the offense as they go.”
The Steelers brought Rodgers in to try to lift mediocre quarterback play, and the move followed two decades in which the team has had fairly consistent production at the position. That consistency has not come without tradeoffs, Bettis said, arguing that steadiness at quarterback has come at the expense of other parts of the roster. Even so, the gamble on the 41-year-old appeared to pay some short-term dividends: the Steelers were back in the playoffs after Rodgers joined, and Mike Tomlin again finished above.500.
Bettis said he used to wonder why a team would wait around for a starting quarterback, asking, “what's going on? What are we doing?” But after going through the situation, he said he now understands the value of Rodgers’ presence and sees him as a team player who understands the culture. That is why, Bettis said, the hold-up is less alarming than it might look from the outside.
He is now talking with Steelers fans in Pittsburgh about what the club needs in this month's NFL Draft, an event that will also be held in Pittsburgh. Bettis is teaming up with The Athletic and its NFL Draft guide, The Beast, as the Steelers try to fill several holes while Rodgers’ future remains unresolved.
