(Joe Sargent/Getty Images/TNS)                    FILE Photo – Russell Wilson (3) and Justin Fields (2) of the Pittsburgh Steelers look on as head coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Aaron Rodgers (8) of the New York Jets embrace after the game at Acrisure Stadium on Oct. 20, 2024, in Pittsburgh. 

(TNS) – The Pittsburgh Steelers were not high on this crop of free agent quarterbacks, and did not want to overpay for anybody, ESPN’s Dan Graziano said.

Graziano lumps Aaron Rodgers into that pool, as the Steelers settled on him after to wanting to pay Sam Darnold nor Justin Fields after seeing what they landed.

“I don’t get that sense,” Graziano said. “I think if you got the Steelers and you gave them truth serum, what they would tell you is we didn’t really like any of the options that were available at quarterback this offseason, including Aaron Rodgers. So we’re just kind of going with what we ended up being left with. Like, they didn’t feel like spending more on Justin Fields than the Jets did. They didn’t feel like bringing Russell Wilson back. They didn’t feel, for whatever reason, like playing on Sam Darnold in free agency or drafting a quarterback in the first five rounds.”

Graziano adds that the Steelers plan with an eye toward the future, stacking compensatory picks in hopes of building enough draft capital for a trade scenario next year in what is viewed as an uber-talented crop in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Even if the Steelers land Rodgers, who they still have no firm deadline out there for now, the team will have their eye on the future for a long-term plan there rather than patching it up every year.

The Steelers could have matched Fields’ offer from the Jets or Darnold’s from the Seahawks, but they chose not to do that, likely due to their internal evaluations of each player.