AARON RODGERS | PHOTO BY ALYSA RUBIN/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

The first day of Mandatory Veteran Minicamp in June was also the first day Aaron Rodgers took part in the Steelers’ preseason process, and it was memorable for all the rave reviews insisting the 41-year-old quarterback “could still sling it.”

The exclamation point that ended team development last week, just before a four-day break for Labor Day, was tight end Jonnu Smith calling Rodgers a “genius.”

In between came an unrelenting stream of Rodgers appreciation and tributes from coaches, teammates and front office personnel celebrating Rodgers the teammate as much if not more than Rodgers the four-time NFL MVP.

There was even this from running back Jaylen Warren on why he voted for Rodgers as offensive captain:

“The pen was writing ‘Aaron’ before I could even think. He’s a coach and a best friend all in one, you couldn’t ask for more.”

So the Steelers — this just in — are all-in on Rodgers.

They’ve won August.

We’re about to find out if all that admiration (Smith’s sentiment, not mine) has been justified or misplaced.

It was a convoluted process that led to the Steelers eventually settling on Rodgers.

There were options.

And whether the Steelers ultimately landed the best possible option will be determined not only by Rodgers but by how the quarterbacks the Steelers might have secured instead fare in the season ahead.

This starts with Rodgers’ opposite number in the regular-season opener on Sunday in New Jersey, Justin Fields.

Fields will be quarterbacking the Jets this time, not the Steelers, because, as Mike Tomlin put it, “There are a lot of moving parts in free agency.”

Rodgers is the much-more accomplished of the two and the better QB.

But Fields has scary mobility, a future beyond this season and a still-unrealized upside tantalizing enough for the Steelers to want to kick the tires on Fields last season.

Sam Darnold also changed addresses, again, in the annual NFL offseason rendition of Quarterback Musical Chairs. Darnold had been a bust as a former third-overall selection by the Jets in 2018 until he landed in Minnesota last season after stops in Carolina and San Francisco.

The Darnold-led Vikings went 14-3 before bowing out in the first round of the playoffs a season ago.

Now he’s in Seattle, another example of how free-agent interest doesn’t necessarily lead to a free-agent acquisition.

Darnold is 28. And like Fields, 26, Darnold has plenty of sand left in his hour glass.

Russell Wilson, 36, does not. He was the most unlikely Steelers candidate for 2025 all along, even after going 6-5 in 11 Steelers starts in 2024.

The New York Football Giants apparently have a higher opinion of Wilson.

And in the event they’re wrong about him, as the Steelers ultimately were a year ago, first-round prodigy Jaxson Dart was selected 25th overall back in April to eventually be that long-term franchise guy the Steelers, the Giants and so many other NFL teams are desperately seeking.

The Steelers passed on Dart at 21st overall and opted for Oregon defensive lineman Derrick Harmon.

There are a lot of moving parts to the draft, apparently, as well.

The Steelers’ plan is clearly to take a one-season shot with Rodgers and then use their abundance of 2026 drafty capital to position themselves to finally get their hands on Ben Roethlisberger’s long-term successor.

What plays out in the meantime will be nothing less than a week-to-week referendum on their ability as an organization to finally get the right guy in the right place at the right time after a succession of swings and misses at football’s most important position.

Rodgers vs. Fields is only the beginning.

No matter who the Steelers are playing in a given week, it’s going to be Rodgers vs. Fields, Rodgers vs. Darnold and Rodgers vs. Wilson/Dart all season.

Let the games begin.

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.