Ben Roethlisberger knows as well as anybody how great Aaron Rodgers was in his prime, as Rodgers earned his lone championship at the expense of Big Ben's Pittsburgh Steelers, taking MVP honors after throwing for 304 yards and three touchdowns with no picks in the Green Bay Packers' 31-25 victory in Super Bowl 45.
Rodgers, of course, now finds himself wearing a Steelers uniform, which he says will likely be the last one he ever puts on.
And Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl winner in his own right, seems completely confident that the 41-year-old will be far better in Pittsburgh than he was a season ago with the New York Jets, saying during a recent episode of his podcast that not having to worry as much about the Achilles injury that cost him all but four plays of his first season with Gang Green will allow the four-time NFL MVP to go out and just play football.
But it was another statement from Roethlisberger that truly caught our attention, as the six-time Pro Bowler opined that prime Aaron Rodgers is better than Patrick Mahomes is now.
Ben Roethlisberger says he'd take prime Aaron Rodgers over Patrick Mahomes
The statement above isn't paraphrasing, by the way. During a recent episode of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, the 43-year-old was answering a direct question about whether he'd take prime Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes now, and his exact quote was as follows:
"Well, I would take Aaron in his prime over Patrick now. I think Aaron Rodgers in his prime was one of the top few to ever do it. And so is Patrick Mahomes in his prime. But Patrick Mahomes is just like entering out of his prime, I think."
"I think Patrick Mahomes is phenomenal; he's going to go down as another arguable GOAT."
Roethlisberger then doubled down on his opinion that prime Rodgers is better than current Mahomes but did step back just a touch, saying that if had to compare the two with both in their prime, he'd "really have to think hard on that."
Now, all of the comparison talk is obviously intriguing. And we could sit here all day and break down both quarterbacks by statistics, wins, championships, MVPs, and any other metric one could think of.
But is it just me or is Roethlisberger a little (or a lot) off in saying that Mahomes is no longer in his prime? Did he have his best season in 2024? No. But he still threw for nearly 4,000 yards, tossed 26 touchdowns, and led the Kansas City Chiefs to a third consecutive Super Bowl appearance and the fifth in six years. And when his birthday rolls around in September, he'll only be 30.
Rodgers won three of his four NFL MVPs with the Packers after his 30th birthday, by the way, so Mahomes has plenty of prime years to go.
In addition, one has to wonder if Roethlisberger would be of the same opinion if Rodgers were playing the 2025 season in any other uniform. Big Ben played 18 years in Pittsburgh, so he's obviously got a soft spot for the Steelers. And I could easily be completely off base there, but it's certainly worth noting.