Former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark is not a fan of the team signing quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and he’s letting everyone know it.
Clark, 45, is now an ESPN football analyst and he appeared on SportsCenter on Thursday, June 5, to lay into his team for pinning its hopes on the 41-year-old QB.
“This is the worst-case scenario for Pittsburgh Steelers fans,” he said. “It continues to keep you mired in mediocrity.”
He explained that the Steelers aren’t just one productive quarterback away from winning a Super Bowl, so adding Rodgers is only going to make the team just good enough to sneak into the playoffs.
“Will this team be better? Have they gotten better in the quarterback room? Absolutely,” Clark continued. “Will they contend for that championship that Pittsburgh Steelers people and fans and organization think is the standard? No, they won’t. They will be fighting for a wild card spot. They’ll probably be home Week 1 of the playoffs and again be looking for a franchise quarterback.”
Had the Steelers not signed Rodgers and went with a more inexperienced quarterback, they likely would have finished with a poorer record and garnered a higher pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Now, Clark feels the team may be in the exact same position next year.
While Clark is hardly alone in his criticism of the aging quarterback, the former safety has made it clear in the past that he is not Rodgers’ biggest fan. After Rodgers criticized how the media covers the NFL in December 2024, Clark fired back by calling him a “fraud.”
“This dude is once again tone-deaf,” Clark said at the time. “This dude is once again unaware. This dude is once again arrogant to a point that’s almost sickening because he says these things, and he talks tough, and he behaves in his way, but he ain’t.”
“This dude is a fraud,” he added. “He’s been a fraud. He can throw a football and that’s where it stops. Once that talent ends … so does he. And to sit up there, man, and to be just blatantly hypocritical is funny and sickening at the same time.”
In April, Clark criticized the Steelers for what he claimed was letting Rodgers essentially hold the franchise hostage by taking too much time to choose his next destination.
“What has Aaron Rodgers done in the last two years or since leaving Green Bay that says he should be afforded this type of time that says that you should give them a sort of respect that keeps your franchise at bay?” Clark asked.
Rodgers’ deal with Pittsburgh is for one year and worth a base salary of around $10 million with incentives, according to NFL insider Ian Rappaport.
