Aaron Rodgers signing with the Steelers would be beyond boring at this point

We are creeping up on June, which so far is the only thing the NBA has going for it that the NFL has refused to swipe.

For you kiddos out there, once upon a time the Association dominated Christmas Day. Watching basketball on Christmas was a tradition. The NFL saw that we enjoyed the NBA when we weren’t hanging out with our families and decided enough was enough. Consider that last week’s schedule release proved how they will go after anything and everything under the sun. The art of conquest never rests.

With the schedule release now behind us, that about does it for all major points of the offseason. There is a bunch of waiting to do between now and training camp, with a handful of smaller things popping up in between, but that gives us plenty of time to stew on some particular topics.

That’s what we here at The Skinny Post, Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa, do best.

Brock Purdy is the latest franchise quarterback who got the bag

Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images

RJ:

Nothing is more annoying for an NFL fanbase to go through than their team’s quarterback being due an extension.

To be clear there are exceptions to this rule. If Patrick Mahomes were to ever come close to the line of free agency then all Kansas City Chiefs fans would be united in how stupid it was to get to that point. But consider that even Lamar Jackson — two-time MVP Lamar Jackson — elicited opinions from his own fans that the Baltimore Ravens front office should find a creative way to move on.

This takes us to Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers. As the weekend began it was announced that the two agreed to a five-year, $265M extension which gives Purdy an AAV of $53M. He broke the trend of the next guy getting more than the last guy in a world where the last guy got more than anyone ever did.

Overall we are talking about seismic money and whether or not you are worried that Purdy got too much seems to be silly in my opinion. NFL teams, the smart ones, have proven how they can get out of deals like this if they feel the need to down the road, so there is no need for San Francisco to sweat about a future where they hypothetically want to move on.

Good for everyone involved in getting this done before Memorial Day.

Michael:

Good for Purdy, man. As a University of Iowa alum, I don’t normally care about what happens to former Iowa State players, but this is a feel-good underdog story that everyone in the football world should enjoy seeing. I mean, this guy was Mr. Irrelevant in his draft class. Those players are usually doomed to see little to no success in the NFL, but not Purdy. The guy has literally taken the Niners to a Super Bowl and now is one of the league’s top quarterbacks making over $50 million a year.

While I may have personally been uncomfortable forking out that type of cash to a quarterback who may be nothing more than a good game manager in Kyle Shanahan’s system, good teams know they need a certain level of play from that position to be relevant in this league and so I have to admit this was smart by San Francisco to simply get the deal done so their attention can go elsewhere as they try to bounce back from an underwhelming 2024 campaign.

Does Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty have any real competition for Offensive Rookie of the Year?

Michael:

The Raiders have committed to turning their offensive fortunes around this offseason by trading for veteran quarterback Geno Smith (reuniting him with Pete Carroll) and drafting top running back Ashton Jeanty with the sixth-overall pick in the NFL Draft.

Jeanty enters a running back room that features aging speedster Raheem Mostert and other youngsters Sincere McCormick and Zamir White. Based on that depth, there’s no reason not to believe Jeanty will get every single snap he could ask for in the Las Vegas offense. In fact, I don’t think any other rookie has such an easy path to such an immense amount of opportunity for their team’s offense, which leads me to believe Jeanty should be the runaway favorite for ORoY honors when the upcoming season is all said and done.

Tell me I’m wrong.

RJ:

The trend of disrespecting Cam Ward has rippled into The Skinny Post, I see.

While the Tennessee Titans have a lot of questions to answer, we all know that awards are a mostly quarterback-driven thing. If Ward is even average as a starter in the league then it feels safe to say that he could be the person who wins the award.

It is a very difficult thing to win an award as a running back, especially over a quarterback. While I expect Jeanty to do well this season, he may have to do REALLY well to win something.

Is there any single person excited about the idea of Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh?

Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images

RJ:

It is always important to be honest and I am doing so in telling you all that I am a Dallas Cowboys fan. Aaron Rodgers has ruined many of my seasons as a fan. They all sucked.

Whatever bias you want to call that aside… it is stating the obvious to say that we are all exhausted at this point. As noted we have passed go and collected our $200 several times this offseason, so many times that the offseason is basically over as mentioned. The Steelers, a once proud and mighty franchise that has seemingly bent the knee here, waiting in the wind as Aaron does whatever we want to call all of this isn’t even sad anymore. It even passed boring.

At the time of this writing our friends at FanDuel listed the over 8.5 wins line for Pittsburgh at +120. If you could lock that in right now with a future guarantee of Rodgers starting 17 games for them… would it even feel like a bargain?

This is all yawn.

Michael:

I may be in the minority here, but I actually don’t think Aaron Rodgers moves the needle all that much for the Steelers. He had one of the best supporting casts in all of football a season ago — some of them handpicked by Rodgers himself — and they still were a miserable offense. Davante Adams, Allen Lazard at wideout. Both Breece Hall and Braelon Allen at running back. The more-than-serviceable tight end Tyler Conklin.

I did not watch the Jets intensely, but every single week when that offense put up 14 or less points, it blew my mind. Right now, the Steelers don’t have as good of a cast as they did in New York a season ago. Adding him just seems negligible for that group.

So I agree. The idea of Rodgers to the Steelers is putting me to sleep as I’m typin——….zzzzzz…..

Is it time for a real organizational reset for the Saints following the retirement of QB Derek Carr?

Michael:

The sudden news of Derek Carr’s retirement has left the Saints in a bit of a quarterback pickle. Without him, they are left with three young passers in Jake Haener, Spencer Rattler, and 2025 second-round pick Tyler Shough. The former two have a small bit of starting experience (but no real success attached to it) and Shough is one of the oldest rookies to come into the NFL in recent memory.

As things stand, I don’t think anyone knows who will end up starting for the Saints come September, but it’s going to make for some interesting preseason competition.

But that leads me to my next point: The Saints need to stop grasping at straws with each offseason since Drew Brees’ retirement in the name of going 9-8 or 8-9. They’re being forced to start fresh at quarterback which is one of the hardest things for franchise to do, and it may also be time to cut bait with some of the team’s larger contracts to help spur on a quicker rebuild.

Carr is gone. Former right tackle Ryan Ramczyk is also retired. Cameron Jordan is somehow still playing but may be on his way out shortly, as well. It’s time the Saints take a good look in the mirror with new head coach Kellen Moore and decide whether or not now is the moment to take that step into a new era of the franchise.

RJ:

The collective football world has joked about it for long enough… the Saints do not believe in any type of reset.

It is wild to me to suggest that a reset is involved after someone like Derek Carr walks away from your team… but that is sort of the situation that the Saints are in. They have delayed and delayed and delayed and delayed. Is there a less interesting team in any kind of way across the NFL right now?

Maybe that is why I genuinely don’t care if they do or don’t reset. Right now the Saints offer nothing that is of legitimate interest. Seriously. Find the thing they do that you think is cool or even not cool. There isn’t one.

The Saints are blah.