As the hours, days, weeks and months have piled up in the partnerless dance between Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was only a matter of time before someone with some name recognition popped off. Not surprisingly, it was longtime Rodgers critic and Steelers quarterback icon Terry Bradshaw, who took the time to speak his mind during a Tuesday radio appearance.
A little more surprising? Bradshaw also ripped the organization’s handling of former quarterback Kenny Pickett, including a few upper cuts that were pretty clearly aimed at head coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan.
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Speaking to former NFL star Dan Hampton on 103.7 The Buzz in Little Rock, Arkansas, Bradshaw lit into the pursuit of Rodgers as the team’s latest solution at the quarterback spot.
“That’s a joke,” Bradshaw said. “That to me is just a joke. What are you gonna do? Bring him in for one year — are you kidding me? That guy needs to stay in California. Go somewhere and chew on bark and whisper to the gods out there.”
While that was blunt, Bradshaw’s more biting commentary came on the Steelers’ handling of 2022 first-round pick Pickett, who started parts of his first two seasons for the Steelers before being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles prior to the start of the 2024 season. Pickett’s two years in Pittsburgh were marked by a multitude of problems, including issues with former wideout George Pickens, three different offensive coordinators and an offensive line that struggled significantly. Pickett is now on the Cleveland Browns and in position to be the team’s starting quarterback going into training camp. He also apparently has a fan in Bradshaw, who led the Steelers to four Super Bowl titles during the 1970s “Steel Curtain” defensive era.
“I liked Kenny Pickett,” Bradshaw said. “I liked him at [the University of Pittsburgh.] I know him, I know what he’s like. When they got him to [the Steelers], they didn’t protect him, they didn’t get him an offensive line. They wanted to run the football, but they didn’t have an offensive line that could protect and they didn’t have weapons. He had no wide receivers to speak of. … Then they throw a kid in there for two years and you’ve got an offense that doesn’t fit and doesn’t work, and they can’t run because their offensive line’s not even good enough for a run-blocking team. Now, they’re saying Kenny Pickett is a failure. He wasn’t a failure, the Steelers were a failure.”
Terry Bradshaw isn’t usually one to mince words, even when he’s critical of his former team in the Steelers. (Photo by PA Wire/PA Images via Getty Images)
(PA Wire – PA Images via Getty Images)
While Bradshaw didn’t call out Tomlin or Khan specifically, the rancor over how Pickett was handled and the state of the infrastructure around him certainly aims at both the Steelers head coach and general manager. And now Bradshaw has focused the Pickett failure through a likely Rodgers signing, only adding to a spotlight that is going get more heated in the next two weeks.
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That’s simply because the Steelers’ full-squad minicamp is set to kick off on June 10 and Rodgers remains unsigned. While the team hasn’t said as much publicly, it’s believed the coaching staff and front office would like to have Rodgers signed and in attendance for that camp so they can begin the process of pulling the team’s offense together before breaking for the remainder of summer and into July’s training camp.
Whether that will happens remains to be seen. Rodgers remains unsigned after announcing in April that he was dealing with personal issues and taking time to work through them. Since that announcement, Rodgers has been traveling and made an appearance in Austin, Texas, for a live podcast in which he said he wouldn’t be playing for the New Orleans Saints, but also dropped a hint that he could be signing with the Steelers.
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It’s been that kind of when-will-he-sign journey between Rodgers and the Steelers since the NFL Draft, when Pittsburgh declined to take a quarterback high in the draft despite having opportunities to select both Jaxson Dart and Tyler Shough — each of whom are expected to eventually become starters for the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints, respectively. But as Rodgers has gone about his business and the Steelers have gone about theirs, frustration has mounted in the Pittsburgh fan base over the lack of a quality starter at the quarterback spot.
Now that frustration has a much louder voice with a much bigger name: Terry Bradshaw.
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