Before ultimately signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers was drawing interest from the New York Giants.
Reports suggested that Rodgers was one of the Giants' top choices to take over at quarterback after the team moved on from Daniel Jones in 2024.
But the team obviously didn't think it had a chance to sign him and decided to sign Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, and then draft Ole Miss signal-caller Jaxson Dart to be the future of the franchise at the most important position in sports.
So, why didn't Rodgers choose the Giants in free agency? Well, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer recently went into detail about the reason behind the decision.
"The Giants were gonna ask him to do what the Jets asked him to do," Breer said to Rich Eisen. "Which was to take a young core that's got talent in it and lift it up. And I believe the reason why he picked the Steelers over the Giants was because he'd be jumping on a moving train with guys who are legitimately his peers."
Rodgers recently revealed that he is likely to retire following the 2025 season, so it comes as no surprise that he picked the team with a better chance to win in what could be his last year in the NFL.
Pittsburgh was a playoff team at 10-7 last season, and that was despite a total collapse of the offense late in the campaign. It stands to reason that the Steelers could improve in 2025 and make some noise in the playoffs if Rodgers is able to elevate the offense.
In New York, general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll are both sitting on scorching-hot seats after missing the playoffs in each of the last two years, and there's a good chance it'll be three years in a row with the team's lackluster roster and talented division.
Adding to that, if things had gone south for the Giants with Rodgers under center, the team likely would've moved off the veteran rather quickly to see if Dart could succeed in Year 1, something that could save the jobs of Schoen and Daboll.
At the end of the day, the Steelers were always the more stable option for Rodgers, so his decision was not even close to a surprise.