Aaron Rodgers spent the past two seasons with the New York Jets. In 2025, he will join the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Longtime former NFL player Booger McFarland said on SportsCenter that the move from the Jets to the Steelers is a clear “downgrade.”
“Going from the Jets to the Steelers from an offensive line standpoint, I’m going to say that’s a downgrade. I think when you look at the Jets, they got Olu Fashanu, they just drafted Armand Membou out of Missouri at right tackle, they got Alijah Vera-Tucker on the inside, I love that offensive line. You could make an argument that the Jets have a top-five offensive line in football, especially when they’re healthy,” McFarland said. “I don’t know if you can say the same in Pittsburgh. For a quarterback that is 41 years old, that’s going to a worse offensive line, I got two words for Aaron Rodgers: ‘good luck, my friend.’ The one you left in New York, I think, was markedly better.”
Well… well… well…@ESPNBooger believes Aaron Rodgers going from the #Jets to the #Steelers is a DOWNGRADE! 👀
‘You could make an argument that the Jets got a top-5 offensive line in football, especially when they’re healthy. I don’t know if you can say the same in… pic.twitter.com/iOE004B0Pb
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) June 8, 2025
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Rodgers Didn’t Have Much Say in the Matter
We can debate what is or isn’t an upgrade, but what we can’t debate is that exit plan.
By all accounts, Rodgers wanted to return to the Jets, but the feeling wasn’t mutual. The Jets ripped the band-aid off when Rodgers flew to meet with the team’s new brass.
Head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey let Rodgers know at that time they were going in a different direction. He was ultimately released into free agency, and the Jets eventually replaced him with Justin Fields.
While going from the Jets to the Steelers may be a downgrade according to McFarland in the trenches and at the skills position, Rodgers didn’t have a choice in his exit from New York.
McFarland Praises Jets and Slams Steelers Simultaneously
“Wow, I know I’m going to seem like the Debbie Downer, but I’m gonna say it’s a downgrade also [going from the Jets to the Steelers’ offensive weapons]. This is nothing against DK Metcalf, I love him and Pat Freiermuth, but when you look at what they got with the Jets: Garrett Wilson, you talk about Allen Lazard, Breece Hall in the backfield. I think just looking at that nucleus right there, and I didn’t even mention Mason Taylor, who was a tight end they drafted from LSU, who I think is going to be a stud. I think it’s another downgrade [for the Steelers],” McFarland explained.
“There are better skill-position guys in New York than he is going to get in Pittsburgh. I know he has already thrown with DK out there in Los Angeles. We saw that, I don’t know if that was like five months ago, it has been so long since we’ve been talking about it with Aaron Rodgers. When you look at the rest of them, okay? [George] Pickens is now gone. Pickens is in Dallas. So they are still going to try to find a No. 2 WR. I’m going to say it’s a downgrade going from the Jets to the Steelers from a skills position standpoint,” McFarland added.
The Jets will have a chance to prove these statements true in the season opener against the Steelers.
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