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Long-time ESPN reporter Dan Graziano is clearly not a fan of Aaron Rodgers.
And he proves it over and over.
Last December, he said about the former Jets QB: “Aaron Rodgers is a con artist. He is a narcissist. He is self-absorbed to the absolute maximum.”
But it almost seems like his distaste for the Rodgers, the person, is impacting his football analysis.
On Monday, during an ESPN panel discussion on “Get Up,” they discussed Rodgers and his potential signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is perhaps taking longer than expected to happen.
Headline on ESPN in teasing this segment on their website – “Dan Graziano: Aaron Rodgers was not markedly better than Mason Rudolph last season.”
Whoa.
These quarterbacks aren’t even in the same stratosphere, even if Rodgers has lost a little.
Rodgers is an elite processor. Rudolph isn’t.
Rudolph is a journeyman backup at this point.
To even talk about these guys in the same sentence is strange.
Rudolph was 1-4 as a starter for the Titans last year, throwing nine touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Yes, Rodgers was only 5-12 as a starter last year, but threw 28 touchdowns to 11 picks. His 28 TDs last year were the same total as league MVP, Buffalo’s Josh Allen.
I have covered the Jets for three decades. Rodgers was far from perfect and had some bad games, but his overall body of work at QB last year was the best play I’ve seen at the position for the Jets in a long time, one of the better QB seasons by a Jets QB over my time covering the team.
Once again, not perfect, but the infrastructure around him was rife with issues – bad coaching, no accountability, bad run defense, bad pass protection – I could go on, but I won’t.
I’m not making excuses for him, just pointing out the train wreck he was surrounded by, and at this point in his career, he’s still a good QB, but not a guy that can put a team on his back, like he did in Green Bay in his heyday.
“He was a bad quarterback in the NFL last season,” Graziano said.
I just didn’t see that.
When your quarterback leads you to a go-ahead score late in a game against a bottom-feeding team, and all your team has to do is stop a backup QB (Jacoby Brissett) from driving for a game-winning TD, and you can’t, you’ve got major issues.
“The Patriots had a 22 percent chance of winning when Brissett and the offense got the ball with less than three minutes left after the Jets had taken a 22-17 lead,” wrote Matt Geagan of CBS Boston. “But New England embarked on a 12-play, 70-yard (TD) drive.”
That game, to me, summed up the Jets’ 2025 season.
To let that happen, against a New England team led by a one-and-done rookie head coach, with a lousy roster, and a backup QB was a disgrace.
“[Rodgers] was no markedly better last season (laugh) than Mason Rudolph was (laugh) for the Tennessee Titans when he played,” Graziano said on “Get Up.”
Yes, he was.
They are not even in the same ballpark, even with Rodgers at 41.
“So don’t think the Steelers are sitting there hanging on Aaron Rodgers’ decision as if he says ‘no,’ we are going to have to fold the franchise and not even play the 2025 season – I just don’t think that is how they are looking at it,” Graziano said.
Yes, they are.
Not “folding the franchise”, but they know they need Rodgers this year, and he’s likely going to play there.
They know what Rudolph can do. Been there, done that.
Graziano is a very talented writer, but he might have “Rodgers Derangement Syndrome.”
May 27, 2025
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