The Josh Innes Show - What Is The Downside Of Signing Aaron Rodgers?

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

First off, I listened to most of the new Lil Wayne album. It's quite meh. Second, Aaron Rodgers has officially signed a one year deal with the Steelers. I ask this question...what is the downside for the Steelers? Is Rodgers cooked? maybe. But, what if he's not? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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It won't take long to tell you Neutrals' ingredients. Vodka, soda, natural flavors. So, what should we talk about? No sugar added? Neutral. Refreshingly simple. Hey, the new Lil Wayne album dropped last night and I've listened to most of it and it's not very good. I wanted it to be good. You know what I would say like Lil Wayne dropping an album is like Lil Wayne dropping an album is like when Mike Tyson has one of these rinky dink fights

like when he fights Logan Paul or I guess Jake Paul. When he fights Jake Paul or you know does something like during the Rona when he had that bullshit little fake fight. Like you know it's not going to be a good fight but because it's Mike Tyson you find yourself really intrigued by it. So you're like shit I guess I got to watch this because it's Mike Tyson. And then you get yourself excited for it because you think about Mike Tyson and you think about how you used to like get to buy the paper views like your dad would let you buy the paper view so you could watch Tyson versus McNeely you can watch Tyson versus whomever and every time Tyson fought it was a huge story and a huge event and it was fucking cool so you put

yourself in that time and place you put yourself in that moment and you tell yourself oh shit Tyson's on, I'm going to watch it and it takes you back to your childhood, but then you watch it and you realize it was basically staged and was a piece of shit. That's how I feel when Lil Wayne puts out music because there was a time that Lil Wayne was the fucking dude and it all really culminated with The Carter Three, which is one of the greatest albums of all fucking time. The Carter 3 was just banger, banger, banger, banger, banger. Then The Carter 4 was kind of like, it's fine but that was like when the downfall started with Wayne. Like there were a couple decent songs on

The Carter 4 with 6'7 on The Carter IV and How to Love on Carter IV, those were fine. I couldn't even tell you about the Carter V and then I listened to the Carter VI and I've listened to almost all the cuts and it's just kind of like, you get excited because it's Wayne because it takes you to a time and place where Lil Wayne was the shit and it takes you back to that moment 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 where almost everything Lil Wayne did was great and you had the Carter III and then you had Young Money and then you had Lil Wayne doing verses on seemingly every song and every verse fucked. Basically from like the early 2000s to about 2010 Wheezy could do no wrong. And now he can't do any right. And the music's just kind of boring. And like the collabs are weird like Bono and Post Malone and it's like, yeah, it wasn't very good. And I wanted it to be good. It was one

of those things that you wanted to be good. You wanted it to matter. You wanted it to be like, holy shit, this is the Carter three. If you like, if anybody listening to this, I don't know how many, you know, hip hop type people we have. And it's not like I'm some sort of connoisseur of all this stuff. But the Carter three, which was released in 2008. If you look at the jams, you're talking about albums that from damn near top to bottom were just fucking killers.

Lollipop, Amelie, Got Money, Mrs. Officer, like these are just fucking jams and they were all over the fucking radio. And they were just amazing. Now it's like, but then he would do verses on other people's tracks and like he had something like his verse on soldier Destiny's Child soldier. Fuck, I mean he was so good. But anyway, as it stands now is just kind of like there and you wanted it to be good, but it wasn't good. Now he is a fan of the Green Bay Packers little Wayne, although he's from New Orleans. He's a fan of the Green Bay Packers kind of like, and you wanted it to be good, but it wasn't good. Now he is a fan of the Green Bay Packers a little way, and although he's from New Orleans, he's not a Saints fan, he's a Packers fan. And speaking of the Packers, their former quarterback

Aaron Rodgers is officially a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Let's talk about that after these words. The NBA Finals are finally here and after spending the playoffs all over the Pick6 app from DraftKings, well we're ready for the championship round and this is your last shot to win some real cash before the season ends. The simplest way to get in on the action is downloading the Pick6 app from DraftKings and it's super simple. Just pick more or less on the stats for two or more of your favorite players and boom, you're in the mix for big cash prizes. Now your picks and you're heating up. Pick 6 brings upside with

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Snacks, delivered. Fresh fruit, delivered. Grocery delivery on repeat for just $2.50 a month. Learn more at PCExpress.ca. So Aaron Rodgers assigned a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The team announced yesterday. Let's see, the Steeler said the contract is pending a fiscal, blah, blah, blah. How much is he getting paid?

Like, obviously, it's pending a a physical but I'd like to know how much he's making. Now he's claimed in the past that he would take you know 20 million to be a team's quarterback. Look if that's the deal and it's one year Aaron Rodgers $20 million, find me the negative for the Steelers because the Steelers have spent the last handful of years being just kind of ho-hum right. Every year the biggest talking point is whether or not they're finally going to fire Mike Tomlin, right? It's the debate of would you rather run the risk of being terrible or are you content with being in division, title,

contention, and playoff contention every year with Mike Tomlin, right? That's the biggest talking point you have with the Steelers. But if you look at what the Steelers have been over the last 10 years, when's their last Super Bowl win? Do they win an 11? What year was their Super Bowl win? Their last one. It was 2010. They won, they lost in the Super Bowl.

Sorry, in 2010. They won the Super Bowl in 2008. And since then, they haven't been back and really, they haven't done a fucking thing in the playoffs for the most part. Since 2000, since they went to the Super Bowl in 2010. And since then they haven't been back and really they haven't done a fucking thing in the playoffs for the most part since 2000 since they went to the Super Bowl in 2010 But if you just look at what they've been with the handful of different dudes They've had they play in the toughest division in the NFL many years in the AFC North They'll finish second or third in the AFC North. They'll be one of the wild cards

They'll get to the playoffs and how long has it been since they've won a playoff game? Their last playoff win, I believe, was in 2016. So you're talking nine years since they've won a playoff game, and in most years, they kind of hover around 10 and 7, 9 and 8, now that there's 17 games. 9 and 8, they were 9 and 7s. There was a 12 and 4 worked in there in 2020. And that's just kind of what they do.

So if you're this team that's had a revolving door of quarterback or at quarterback and you saw what they had last year quarterback, then you take a look at what they had in in 22. Let's just go back and look at who their quarterbacks have been. I know we talked about this a little bit yesterday, but you start to look at their quarterback position and you're like Mason fucking Rudolph and and duck Hodges and just down the list of these people that have been

quarterbacks and you've clearly had enough talent on your roster and you're coached well enough to be a team that can go nine and seven ten and seven every year like you're in it every year right like you're there's never a point where you look at the Pittsburgh Steelers and they're just dead, right? When's the last time the Steelers had just a dead season? Like they had some eight and eight sandwiched in there. The last time that they haven't won at least eight games

would be, I mean, you have to go back to see this shit. The last time they didn't win at least eight, and it's not like eight is some sort of line of demarcation that says you're great at football or anything, but eight wins up until a couple years ago would get you to 500, which means one game here, one game there. You're probably in the playoffs. The last time they finished with fewer than eight wins for the Pittsburgh Steelers was 2003. So they are

content as an organization being a competitive organization and they have talented players on both sides of the ball defensively particularly they tend to be loaded with guys. They've had wide receivers whether it be Antonio Brown whether it be George Pickens like they've had receivers. They've had tight end play. They've had solid running backs as well what they have missed as a quarterback ever since Ben Rothlisberger hung it up, it's

been revolving door of doofs. And we know that about this team. So we know what they are as a franchise. We know they did not draft a franchise quarterback. So what is the downside of taking a shot with Aaron Rodgers? There isn't one because this same team that we look at and say, boy, their quarterback play were any better last year, they were 10 and 7 last year. I mean they weren't great but they were 10 and 7 with dead armed has been Rusty Wilson and Justin Fields. I'm not look I think Aaron Rodgers seems pretty cooked right like he didn't look good he had some moments with the Jets but he's probably not very good anymore and I don't think you're just going to get better one year to the next as you

go from 40 to 41 years of age do I think he's dog shit no do I think he's as good as people like when they hear the name does this the play match the name anymore no but if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers and you play in the AFC North and you're going to continue to ride with Mike Tomlin as the coach and you know that you're going to go up against Joe Burrow and you know you're going to go up against Lamar Jackson and you know you're going to go up against whoever the Browns throw out there and the Browns are super competitive even though their win-loss record doesn't show it like they can be a super

competitive team. They may not win a ton of games, but like they can play like they can upset people. We watch them upset people. They can sneak up. The AFC North is a fucking slugfest. So if you're gonna stick with Tomlin and you're gonna stick with the core group of guys you have and you're gonna go make a trade to bring in DK Metcalf who's a fucking beast and you've got the players you have on the offensive side of the ball. Why are you gonna try to ride it out

with a dope? Why are you gonna try to ride it out with a dope? Why are you going to try to ride it out with a rookie? Why are you going to try to ride it out with a journeyman? Like that's not a situation for a Jameis Winston type, right? That's not what that is. They tried that with Rusty Wilson. They tried that with Justin Fields. They won ten games, but they also still lost in the playoffs and weren't particularly competitive in the playoff game against the Ravens. And for the most part, they haven't been particularly competitive in playoff games in the last four years. Lost by 14, 14, and 21 in the playoff games

over the last three times they've made the postseason. So, you can try the revolving door. The revolving door, like I'm I'm fine with that by the way. If you feel like you have a solid team and you just need a steadying presence at quarterback, I'm all for trying that. I get why Indianapolis needed a steadying presence at quarterback last year and was like, let's give Joe Flacco a shot. I can see why due to injury a couple years ago, the Browns

were like, hey, or let's go give Joe, everything's Joe Flacco, let's give Joe Flacco a shot here. I can understand why if you're the Saints. It's a little different because they paid a lot of money for Derek Carr, but even Derek Carr, I'd go, okay, I get it. It's the same kind of way that like you would see a guy like Jeff Garcia step in for the Eagles as a backup and would help them go to the playoffs. Like you would see these kind of things. That's a

little bit different. But like there's a lot of teams that like they feel like they got a solid team around them. They're not bad enough to go out and get a rock star in the draft. They don't want to spend huge money in free agency. So they say, all right, let's see what we can do with this guy who's had success before is a much cheaper option, maybe a reclamation project with someone like Jamis Winston would be. And you go out there and you see what you like,

essentially what the Chiefs did at one point with Alex Smith before Patrick Mahomes became Patrick Mahomes, they had Alex Smith, and Alex Smith had a decent career, but he goes to Kansas City, a better coach than he's ever had, better team than he's ever had, and is instantly a playoff guy. You know, the Colts have been a team that's done that a lot. They think they have dudes, they think they've got the players on both sides of the ball, but don't have the quarterback,

particularly after they lost Andrew Luck to retirement. So they kept trying guys. They would try, you know, as we mentioned a second ago, they tried Flacco, they tried other guys, they tried Jacoby Brissette. They've worked, at one point they worked in Philip Rivers and guys like that, and I get why you do that. You try to strike and see if that one miracle thing can happen and you can win. The Steelers tried that last year with Rusty Wilson and won 10 games. They didn't think it was going to get any better than that. So why not take a shot with Aaron Rodgers? Like what's the worst that

could happen? He sucks. Big deal. It's a one-year deal. Like you're either going to suck with Aaron Rodgers or maybe he surprises the world and you win 11 or 12 games or he's you know he sucks and you know you lose games. Like to me there isn't a huge like financial downfall, there isn't a huge stunt the growth of your franchise. Like the Steelers are kind of a kick it down the road franchise because they're not bad enough to suck and they're not good enough to win the whole thing but they've got some guys and some aging dudes on this team that it's kind of like their last stand and they got a coach who I mean who knows how

much longer he's going to be the coach he needs to start winning playoff games. You're in a tough division as it is you're competitive in that division, but you don't win that division. Where's the negative? Is Aaron Rogers a douche? Sure, Aaron Rogers is a douche. But who gives a shit? See what he's got. Maybe he's a fucking stud again. Maybe he finds the fountain of youth and there's one miraculous year. It was kind of like the Chiefs. Like if you

want to look at the Chiefs of the early 90s, the Chiefs could never find their quarterback. They were great. They had Marcus Allen and Kim Blanders and they had a different crew of wide receivers over the course of different years that were pretty solid. Andre Risen was kind of a reclamation project and JJ Burden and all these guys. Willie Davis and then eventually they worked in and had Tony Gonzalez but if you look at the Chiefs, they were

always great defensively because Marty Schottenheimer was an amazing defensive coach. They were loaded defensively, Derek Thomas and Neil Smith and all these fucking dudes and they were player James Hasty and they had these, I think James Hasty and they were players man. They were good and on a consistent basis, they were good. Their offensive line was always good, but they just had to keep taking flyers on quarterbacks. But they had that two-year

stretch where they had Joe Montana, who was at the end of the road, reclamation project because he was kind of cast off by San Francisco and thought he still had something left, went out to prove something and prove something. So these things happen. Again, what's these things happen. Again, what's the downside? Like, let's say you win four games. Well, you probably would have won four games with the the young quarterback you have anyway, but you probably

wouldn't have had the ceiling of winning ten or eleven. As of right now, maybe this is unfair. I'm giving the Steelers, they won ten games with Russ Wilson last year in Justin Fields. So why couldn't they if Aaron Rodgers finds anything, if Aaron Rodgers finds anything, why couldn't they win 10 or 11 games and be competitive and maybe Aaron Rodgers for one special game throws for 400 fucking yards and he's Aaron Rodgers again and makes one of those amazing Aaron Rodgers plays and maybe you win a playoff game. There is not a negative. Doesn't cost you a ton of money. There's not a negative. So anybody shitting on this is just

because they don't like Aaron Rodgers. Like the Steelers are a unique situation. It's not like they've got a young coach that's, you know, trying to grow. They got an old coach who's probably on the way out pretty soon that needs to start winning. They don't have a totally young roster. They got a bunch of dudes there that have been there a while. Core dudes, star dudes who have been there a while. Try to win and you're in the toughest division of the NFL. Take a shot at it. I'm all for it. More to come.