Inside Coverage: Are the Steelers a playoff team with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback?

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It remains the biggest question in this NFL offseason: Will Aaron Rodgers play quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers this upcoming season?

That's yet to be answered, but let's dive a little deeper. In the latest episode of the Inside Coverage podcast, Frank Schwab, Charles Robinson and Jason Fitz debate this question: Are the Steelers a playoff team with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback?

Frank Schwab is clear — he does not think the Steelers are a playoff team even if they add Aaron Rodgers.

"No, no. I think that they got kind of lucky to get in the playoffs last year," Schwab explains. "And this whole Tomlin thing is very, very — it's impressive, but they're barely squeaking in. I think they're clearly the third-best team in the division. The AFC as a whole is pretty tough when you start looking at the AFC West. And I just — no, no, I don't think the Steelers are a playoff team regardless."

He does leave room for being proven wrong, saying, "Mike Tomlin has proved me wrong a few times in the past few years here."

Charles Robinson takes the opposite stance, saying he thinks the Steelers will have a surprisingly good year with Rodgers under center.

"I'm going to go the opposite way, I think only because this is how the universe works. This is such a crap show — everything screams it's going to break, right? Because this is how the universe usually works, it's gonna be the opposite. I think it's gonna be Brett Favre, Minnesota."

Robinson predicts the Steelers will go 11-6, be "exciting and fun and a huge story all year long," with an unexpected late-career resurgence for Rodgers.

Jason Fitz doesn’t give a direct yes/no on playoffs, but he argues strongly that Rodgers is not worth all the drama and, at best, would only be the third-best quarterback in the division.

"If you're the Pittsburgh Steelers, you're allowing yourself to be hamstrung to sign a quarterback that I think, at best, if he comes out and has the best that he can be today, he's the third-best quarterback in his own division today. We are talking about this version of Aaron Rodgers like he's an MVP and this version of Aaron Rodgers isn't."

Fitz seems doubtful that Rodgers can elevate the Steelers into playoff contention, equating him to current-level Kirk Cousins or Mason Rudolph.

To hear more NFL discussions, tune into Inside Coverage on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.