Who Should I Start? Aaron Rodgers or Geno Smith

Tuesday, June 17, 12:18 PM

Several coaches who watched quarterback Aaron Rodgers closely last year believe that the Pittsburgh Steelers got a steal with the 41-year-old on a team-friendly contract that pays $13.65 million and pushes toward $20 million with incentives. "He's still throwing the s--- out of the ball, honestly," a veteran NFL offensive coach said. "He's the best quarterback they've had since [Ben Roethlisberger]. We will see how the body holds up, but I think he's going to help them immensely." Despite a disappointing season with the New York Jets in 2024, Rodgers still threw for almost 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns. Mobility and health are issues, but Rodgers still has the arm strength and field vision to get it done in the Steel City. The problem is that Pittsburgh's offense is likely to be run-heavy, giving Rodgers limited fantasy upside as a low-end QB2.

Friday, May 30, 12:13 PM

The Athletic's Tashan Reed writes that so far this offseason, things have gone smoothly as Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly have acclimated to one another. "Geno's literally like a second coach," Kelly said. "When you're in that room with him and Greg Olson, there's a lot of ideas going around. And then it's just a matter of corralling it. Because sometimes you can have too many ideas. Like, let's try to do a million things, and then you don't get good at one thing. But his football acumen is really off the charts, and it's impressive to be around him." Under Kelly, the Raiders want their offense to remain amorphous with flexibility to apply to their personnel groupings. Kelly is well-known for operating with plenty of wideouts, but Vegas also plans to use multi-tight-end sets frequently. Smith has a better TE to work with, but his weapons overall will be a downgrade from his last few years in Seattle. Consider him a high-end QB2/low-end QB1 in fantasy in his new digs.