Browns QB chatter: Aaron Rodgers ‘should go to Cleveland’

The season really starts on Halloween for the Cleveland Browns, with Kevin Stefanski’s orange helmeted crew playing their first divisional game against the rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

At 4-3, the Browns need another win to keep pace with the Bengals and Ravens, while the Steelers would probably like to stay out the basement.

So you could understand my surprise when Pittsburgh NFL Analyst Mark Madden wrote “Aaron Rodgers should go to Cleveland,” via TribLive.com.

Browns-Steelers week and this is what’s coming out of the Burgh? Interesting.

Madden started his column by writing about how Rodgers seems to flirt with coming to Pittsburgh when he makes appearances on the Pat McAfee radio show. The perception is that that Rodgers is disgruntled in Green Bay and wants out so he can take one last shot at winning a second Super Bowl.

“If Rodgers leaves Green Bay, he will go to a team that’s poised to win a Super Bowl. The Steelers are not that team…The Cleveland Browns are.”

If you like your sports tangled in big webs of rumors and speculation, then there is no bigger transaction to set your sights on.

Of course, the Browns have a quarterback. Baker Mayfield. He’s pretty good. Certainly no Aaron Rodgers. He still doesn’t have a contract extension, so what about him?

The author continues, making the point that Mayfield should go to Pittsburgh! Madden argues  that an experienced, “above average” quarterback would be a good way to bridge the post-Big Ben gap.

Don’t get too worked, up, though. Madden admits the Mayfield take is “drivel.” Rather, this crazy idea is more a commentary on how ridiculous it would be for Rodgers to join Pittsburgh over a team better equipped to contend, like the Browns.

"“This is, of course, absolute drivel beyond me getting paid to write it. If you think it’s meant as an obscene gesture to those beating the Rodgers-to-Pittsburgh drum, you might be correct. The idea is unspeakably stupid and unrealistic.”"

Browns fans began thinking about Rodgers in an orange helmet over the summer, but as a free agent, there’s no way of knowing where No. 12 would be interested in playing. We all thought J.J. Watt was going to stroll into town the second he was freed by the Texans. How’d that shake out?

Browns win would boost Rodgers’ legacy

Rodgers’ stats have him as one of the all-time greats, but the knock on Rodgers’ career is that he only won one Super Bowl with the Packers, despite being one of the league’s top 3-5 quarterbacks of the course of his career.

If he came to Cleveland and became the man known for delivering the Browns a championship, then, that changes. It’s like LeBron winning the title with the Cavs. He only got one in Cleveland, but for his legacy, it might as well have been three.

If you’re like me, you’re not making plans to buy a Rodgers jersey next year. It’s more likely Baker returns, playing out his fifth-year option. If he doesn’t reach an extension, the Browns can continue to franchise him.

That’s fine, as Mayfield may not be the superstar we thought we were getting, but he’s still a very good quarterback–top 15 in the league, and good enough to get the Browns to the Super Bowl.

But until Rodgers picks his new team and Mayfield remains unsigned…the Aaron Rodgers card will continue to linger int he back of our collective minds.