GET UP | Adam Schefter [BREAKING NEWS]: Steelers get warning about Aaron Rodgers signing situation

GET UP | Adam Schefter [BREAKING NEWS]: Steelers get warning about Aaron Rodgers signing situation

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And we’re sitting in for Evan Ky and Michelle on this Memorial Day on ESPN radio and the ESPN app. Let’s welcome in ESPN NFL senior reporter Dan Graziano. And and Graz, we were just talking about Aaron Rogers and the latest breadcrumb to drop in this trail that he’s leaving. uh seemingly telling us what team he’s going to sign with in I don’t know the upcoming future, the distant future, how wherever it is because it still hasn’t happened. What do you make of what he said on some live podcast about a team that he might be signing with that might be playing the Chicago Bears this season? Like all signs seem to still point to the Steelers. Is that your interpretation of it? Yeah, I think for a while, Courtney, we have f felt like, you know, if he goes anywhere this year, it’s going to be the Steelers. Uh, and him saying that, I guess, indicates that he’s leaning that way. Look, I I get to try and guess what’s in Aaron Rogers head, I think, is foolish. I think he likes when people do it and then he goes the other way because then he could call them foolish and act like he’s smarter than everybody else in the world, which is his big thing. uh he does that more than he plays football now. But look, it’s it’s what it is. He’s he’s either going to go to the Steelers or he’s probably going to retire or sit out the year, whatever whatever form that would take. And when we’re going to have an answer is anyone’s guess. I think I told the folks you’re sitting in for last week that in order to get an answer to that question, they would have to have Aaron Rogers on their show. Um and I don’t know that he’s scheduled. Maybe. Is he coming on later? He got you got him on in like the 8 a.m. hour. Yeah, I mean that’s a normal Memorial Day guest. I I think that you know he fits right in the lineup right after you. But I I hear what you’re saying there because it does feel like this is something that he enjoys um considering he’s been been dragging this out now for quite some time. And you know the Steelers have gone all in and put all their eggs in the Aaron Rogers basket. Do you get the sense at all that maybe they regret going this route when there is a Kirk Cousins who’s younger? Yes, he’s more expensive because of the guarantees that are available. Like considering they’ve shown their hand here, is there some remorse in the way that they’ve handled it this off season? I don’t get that sense. I think I think if you got the Steelers and you gave them Truth Serum, what they would tell you is we didn’t really like any of the options that were available at quarterback this off season, including Aaron Aaron Rogers. So, we’re just kind of going with what uh what what we ended up being left with. Like, they didn’t feel like spending more on Justin Fields than the Jets did. They didn’t feel like bringing Russell Wilson back. they didn’t feel for for whatever reason like playing on Sam Darnold in free agency or drafting a quarterback in the first five rounds. So, I I think around the time of the draft, I got the sense the Steelers were looking at like the next two drafts, the one that just happened and the one next year as possibly a better option for addressing their long-term quarterback situation. And in terms of the short term, in terms of this year, everyone keeps laughing and I’m going to do TV this morning with Tannibal. He’s going to say the same thing he’s been saying for like months. They don’t hate Mason Rudolph. Like like he helped them get to the playoffs two years ago with the way he played in December. They feel like Mason Rudolph can play quarterback well enough uh that they can, you know, be a playoff team because of their defense and their run game, whatever else that they’re doing, their coaching, etc. So, um, I think if Aaron Rogers shows up, they’re fine with it. I think if he doesn’t show up, they’re fine with it. And they don’t feel like, you know, they’re sitting here waiting for, you know, Patrick Mahomes to make a decision. Aaron Rogers, 41 years old, wasn’t very good last year. And and, uh, you know, you’re not getting the MVP caliber dude at this point in his career. Dan, if they sign Aaron Rogers, uh, how will his performance this season impact Mike Tomlin’s future in Pittsburgh? Oh, I don’t think it I I don’t think, Marin, that that it’s going to matter to that. The Steelers are very big picture when it comes to those kinds of decisions. Uh that’s that’s an understatement, right? They’ve had three head coaches in 60 years. So, I don’t think they’re going to tie Mike Tomlin’s future to like, oh, he’s got to he’s got to deliver this year if we get a Marin Rodgers. I I think it’s much more big picture and it’s more about, you know, if well when obviously everything comes to an end, when the Mike Tomlin era in in Pittsburgh comes to an end, whenever that is, I think the decision, you know, will be based on overall direction of the franchise, what other options are out there for the Steelers as a replacement uh for Mike Tomlin? I I don’t think I mean, they gave him an extension last off season. I I just don’t think that the Steelers are the kind of organization that looks at it yeartoear and says if we don’t do if we don’t win x number of games this year we have to think about a coaching change on sportsmanlike presented by progressive insurance ESPN NFL insider Dan Graciano joining us here on this Memorial Day Monday. Graz like the other option that we had been throwing around the Kirk cousins of it all. He’s still with the Atlanta Falcons and I know there’s a lot of things that make moving him if you’re Atlanta complicated. He’s you do nearly 38 million in guarantees. He has a no trade clause. How much longer does this thing play out with him being a part of the Atlanta organization? Like is there a team out there that makes sense that might be kicking the tires on a trade before training camp with Cousins? Well, I think it would be the Aaron Rogersless Steelers would be at the front of that line. Uh or someone whose quarterback situation changes for the negative. I don’t think the Falcons are going to want to trade him to the Saints and play him twice. Uh so that’s that’s what you can probably cross off. And then other than that, you’re going to need somebody to suffer an injury or um you know, maybe like what happens if the Vikings get into training camp and and JJ McCarthy is just just not it. Like I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen. I don’t think that’s what they’re thinking. But that kind of thing, that’s an example of a situation that that could change things. The founders have been super patient. Uh, I think at this point, May 26, I think we kind of have to take their word for the idea that um they’re okay with him as Michael Penn Jr.’s backup this year because we’re pretty close to that happening. Now, the one thing that will change next week is June 1st will have come and gone and trading Kurt Cousins will have a a less of a of a salary cap impact on the Falcons once that happens. So, it is possible they’re waiting until after June 1st to do it, but given the the narrow field right now, like I don’t think the like for example, I don’t think the Browns are going to do it at this point. They’re not going to add a a sixth quarterback to their to their quarterback room at this point. So, I think it’s this it’s the Steelers or someone who who doesn’t currently need Kurt Cousins, but might down the road due to a change in circumstances. Dan, you mentioned JJ McCarthy. It felt like the Vikings waited to sort of say this is our guy. How confident do you think they are in his ability to to lead this team? I think more confident than people realize. I mean, he was the 10th 10th pick, ninth pick, 10th. I think it was 10th. Anyway, top 10 pick. So, um they felt like he was a guy that if he didn’t get hurt was in the mix to to play last year that, you know, they wanted to give him as much time as he needed and that’s why they had Sam Darnold. But in a world where JJ McCarthy doesn’t get injured in training camp, there’s theoretically a competition there and maybe he pushes Darnold during the season. So I I think they feel like I think the Vikings are extremely confident in their infrastructure. First of all, their coach uh Kevin Okonnell has shown an ability to deliver at a high level with several different quarterbacks. Uh and and I think that that’s that’s part of the reason they have confidence in JJ McCarthy. But you know, I haven’t heard anything but positives out of there about him this off season. And I think once they felt like he was fully healthy and ready to participate in everything they needed him to participate in this off season, I think that’s when you saw, you know, the confidence start to come out. My sense of it with Minnesota is that the questions entering this off season about JJ McCarthy were more about health than capability. And I I think they they feel like they’re full steam ahead with him right now. Graz, I’ll get you out of here on this. I want to stay in Minnesota, but moving off of the Vikings into league business. So, the owners met last week. We know that the tush push is going to remain a a part of, you know, the NFL for for now, but there’s something that was interesting that hasn’t gotten enough, I think, you know, of a spotlight on it. Roger Goodell said that the NFL owners did talk about the salary cap at length, what’s working, what’s not. um you know trying to prevent teams from using void years, things like that as loopholes. Like do you anticipate based on what you know from what happened last week that there’s going to be any changes or you know anything brought up in the coming years to make tweaks to the NFL salary cap and the way that they do business? Yeah, I found that comment extremely interesting and um I’m I’m you know making calls to try and sort of decipher what it all means and get a sense of what the priorities will be that what people need to know is the collective bargaining agreement runs through 2030. So has five more seasons left on it. Now, we also know that the owners are interested in adding an 18th regular season game, and there’s all these issues and and what happened in the last 10-year CBA was they got halfway through it and they ran out of the money they needed to to help build stadiums and so they wanted to do a new one. So, uh that could happen again. But the question becomes, what are the priorities from either side? And if if the owners are talking amongst themselves about changes to the way the salary cap rules work and how you can put void years in contract and use that as an accounting trick to spread out the cap hit over five years, that would be a fascinating change that I think the players union would want to be want to examine very closely because of you know the potential impact it would have on obviously players income. Goodell also hinted at the possibility of a of altering the revenue split which is the kind of issue that could could really bring things to a halt and has in the past when we talk about you know the 2011 lockout and things like that. So over the next year or two I think we’re going to get a better picture of what the priorities are on each side and what the timetable is for a potential renegotiation of the CBA. The owners are hellbent on an 18th game regular season. They could open negotiation. They could try to open negotiations relatively soon. There was some thought a few months ago that it could be this offseason. That doesn’t seem likely now, but it certainly could be next year. So, yeah, it’s worth watching because these are the core issues that drive, you know, these negotiations and these negotiations from what from the standpoint of fans are the kind of things that can delay starts of seasons. So, it’s worth paying attention to. No doubt. Yeah, definitely. A lot of interesting nuggets coming out of owners meetings in Minnesota last week as we wager on for the OTAA season to come to an end and then mini camp. Maybe by the time Graz is back here next week, Aaron Rogers will have made a decision. Um, don’t count on that one. Big baby there. Graz, we appreciate it. Thanks so much for the time. Thank you guys. That’s ESPN NFL insider Dan Graciano joining Myron Medaf and Courtney Cronin here on Unsportsmanlike. and sportsmanlike presented by progressive insurance. Straight ahead, I can only imagine what Pat Castello is over. But first, I’ve got a message [Music] from Do they go then?