One local beat writer expects 42-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers to re-sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and soon. Yet for one former NFL GM now working as a talking head on television, it’s well past time for the Black and Gold to move on from Rodgers under first-year head coach Mike McCarthy and look elsewhere at the most important position in sports.

For ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum, that’s his stance on the Rodgers situation in the Steel City.

“I would clearly move on from him. Look, last year they were 25th in the league in explosive play rate. He is obviously an all-time great player, Aaron Rodgers is, but he’s gonna be 43 in December,” Tannenbaum said Monday morning on Get Up, according to video via ESPN. “You have a new head coach. Give Will Howard a chance as [Domonique Foxworth] mentioned and then go scour. Go scour for a veteran, Kyler Murray, Kirk Cousins, and then look at the draft beyond Fernando Mendoza.

“It may not be the first round, but I think at this point — it’s hard to believe — but Aaron Rodgers is really a bridge quarterback and if you’re in Year 1 with Mike McCarthy, start fresh and bring in competition with Will Howard.”

Last season wasn’t all that great for the Steelers, particularly on offense. Rodgers threw for just 3,322 yards, but he did complete nearly 66% of his passes and had a QB rating of 94.8. He avoided the mistakes, too, throwing just seven interceptions to 24 touchdowns passes.

The only real problem was there was no downfield passing element for much of the year. Almost everything was short and quick with Rodgers. He got the ball out of his hands in 2.56 seconds, which was the fastest he’s thrown the football in his NFL career outside of Year 2 in Green Bay in limited 2007 action.

While Rodgers still has a great arm and can make all the throws, there were times last season when he didn’t trust his protection and got rid of the football too quickly to avoid hits.

In that sense, Pittsburgh can’t sign up for another year with that, even with McCarthy having familiarity and success with Rodgers. But it’s not as if there’s any other better options out there.

A trade for Kyler Murray would be too costly, and you’d be signing up for the same thing with Kirk Cousins in free agency. Malik Willis is an intriguing name, but the Steelers didn’t want to pay a limited starter in Justin Fields more than $20 million a year last offseason, and probably won’t want to do it this offseason with Willis.

Trading for Mac Jones is certainly intriguing, but the Steelers have a bunch of holes on their roster and need the draft picks to add depth. Maybe landing a QB like LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier in the third round, or Miami (FL)’s Carson Beck or even Penn State’s Drew Allar makes some sense, too.

But all signs point back to Rodgers. Teammates want him back, the first-year head coach wants him back. A decision could be made soon from Rodgers’ perspective, ending all the speculation.

It might not be what the talking heads want, but those inside the building want Rodgers back for his leadership and his abilities at the position. That has to matter at some point, even if it’s just for another year as McCarthy assesses Will Howard behind the scenes and sets the Steelers up for a potentially loaded 2027 QB class in the draft.