Several Pittsburgh Steelers legends have disapproved of the franchise’s months-long pursuit of Aaron Rodgers.
Terry Bradshaw was the latest to speak up, calling any Rodgers interest a “joke.”
“That's a joke. That to me is just a joke,” Bradshaw said on 103.7 The Buzz in Arkansas Tuesday. "What are you going to 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."
Ben Roethlisberger previously accused Rodgers of holding the Steelers hostage as he waited for the Minnesota Vikings to offer him a contract.
“I think Aaron secretly is still holding out for Minnesota, which is why he hasn’t signed with the Steelers. Why else would you go throw with DK and be working out and put it out, blast it to everybody that I’m throwing to these guys, but you won’t sign?” Roethlisberger said on the “Footbahlin” podcast.
Cam Heyward sounded offended at the idea of recruiting Rodgers to Pittsburgh while discussing the topic in March.
“There’s no need to recruit. It’s been more black and white up front... You roll with who’s here. It’s not guessing. You gotta get to work you put in. You can’t worry about who’s not here. Same way goes if I was to miss practice. Train keeps going. We’ll see what happens. You really just can’t worry about what’s going on outside of here. That’s the way the Steelers have always run the ship,” Heyward said, per PennLive.com.
Heyward would later go back on his word, likely at the behest of his agent and the Steelers’ front office.
Terry Bradshaw defends Pitt Panthers football legend Kenny Pickett from the Steelers
Bradshaw is unenthused with more than just Pittsburgh’s mishandling of the quarterback position this offseason, given Mason Rudolph and sixth-round draft pick Will Howard are the team’s two likeliest QB1 options as things currently stand.
The Hall of Fame Steelers QB flamed the franchise for fumbling former Pitt Panthers football star Kenny Pickett’s development.
“I liked Kenny Pickett. I liked him at Pitt. I know him, I know what he's like. When they got him to Pittsburgh, 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,” Bradshaw said.
“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.”
Pickett just won a Super Bowl ring as a backup for the Philadelphia Eagles and is the current frontrunner to win the Cleveland Browns’ starting job.
Things have been looking up for Pickett more than they have for the Steelers, at least at the QB position, since the player and organization parted ways.