Michael Wilbon is tired of all the Aaron Rodgers talk, and he took his own network to task for giving the quartebrack too much airtime.
Wilbon, the longtime cohost of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption,” threw some digs at the 42-year-old Rodgers, whose return to the Steelers was reported Saturday, but aimed his most pointed remarks at the Worldwide Leader.
“He’s irrelevant,” Wilbon said of Rodgers during ESPN’s “First Take” on Tuesday. “He’s overstated — and by the way, I’m not talking about his career, no. Aaron Rodgers is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, a great quarterback for years. He’s irrelevant now. What makes him relevant now? This network, talking about him every day, day in, day out as if they’re hanging on and waiting for Patrick Mahomes three years ago.”
Wilbon noted that Rodgers, who is participating in OTAs, has not maintained his previous level of performance into his 40s like LeBron James has and Tom Brady did.
“I knew when I saw ‘breaking news’ — what breaking news? The only breaking news about Aaron Rodgers now is that he’s retired. That’s the breaking news,” Wilbon continued. “[The Steelers are] a third-place team in their own division, unlikely to be able to pass Cincinnati or Baltimore this year. We’re talking about now, we’re not talking about what Aaron Rodgers has been.
“So all this breathless waiting on Aaron Rodgers, we’re gonna chronicle it every day. I’m blaming this network, because every time I turn on all of our shows — except one — I hear about Aaron damn Rodgers. It makes it sound like I’m criticizing Aaron Rodgers, I’m not. I’m criticizing us. I’m criticizing ‘breaking news.’ I’m criticizing every day we’ve got to talk about Aaron Rodgers — no we don’t. He’s irrelevant, period.”
The Steelers went 10-7 during Rodgers’ first season with the team in 2025, winning the AFC North.
They then got crushed at home by the Texans, 30-6, in the wild-card round.
Rodgers, a four-time MVP who won a Super Bowl with the Packers 15 years ago, had 3,322 yards passing, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 16 games, completing 65.7 percent of his passes.
He was 17-for-33 with 146 yards and an interception in the playoff loss.
He signed a one-year contract worth up to $25 million for 2026, according to multiple reports.
It marks a reunion with his former Packers coach, Mike McCarthy, who took over after longtime Steelers coach Mike Tomlin left for NBC.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
