In the NFL, perception is nine-tenths of reality. Every August, the release of Mike Sando’s annual QB Tiers serves as the ultimate league-wide report card, a brutal barometer of how 50 anonymous coaches and executives truly view the league’s signal-callers. It’s where reputations are either cemented or shattered, where a two-time MVP like Lamar Jackson finally gets his Tier 1 flowers while others see their stock plummet. It’s a landscape of constant motion, where a quarterback’s value can shift dramatically in just one offseason.

This year’s edition saw some predictable movement, with guys like Sam Darnold making a respectable climb. As Sando noted, Darnold’s solid year with the Vikings “pushed solidly up into Tier 3,” re-establishing him as a legitimate starter. These shifts create ripple effects across the league, validating some front-office decisions while putting immense pressure on others. It’s the kind of insider talk that fuels training camp debates, setting the stage for who has the most to prove when the lights come on in September.

But for every riser, there’s a faller. And this year, the biggest one was a future Hall of Famer. “The biggest faller was Aaron Rodgers,” Sando revealed, explaining the seismic shift in league perception. “He fell from Tier 1… he’s fully down into Tier 3. He’s kind of nestled in between Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa.” Dropping two full tiers in two years, Rodgers is now viewed by many decision-makers as a QB who needs a strong supporting cast to win—a far cry from the offensive cheat code he was for nearly two decades in Green Bay.

That leaguewide consensus, however, seems to have missed the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ memo. Head coach Mike Tomlin, whose admiration for Rodgers has been an open secret for years, sees something entirely different. When asked what makes Rodgers an upgrade over last year’s quarterback room, Tomlin didn’t hesitate. “He has a unique resume,” Tomlin told Steelers.com. “And not only a unique resume and experience, but those who have watched practice realize he still has very unique arm talent… He’s a unicorn. He’s one-of-one.” For Tomlin, the conversation about tiers and limitations is irrelevant; he believes he just acquired a mythical creature, not a system-dependent QB3.

Aaron Rodgers becomes Tomlin’s unicorn in a league ready to move on

Tomlin’s “unicorn” label is a bold declaration that directly counters the concerns echoing from Sando’s report. One anonymous executive framed the situation bluntly: “You are hoping for Brett Favre to the Minnesota Vikings, but they had Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin and a bunch of dudes.” The sentiment is clear: this 41-year-old version of Rodgers, coming off a torn Achilles, might not be the singular force he once was. Others questioned his fit with Pittsburgh’s personnel and Arthur Smith’s offense, highlighting his late arrival to the team in June as a significant hurdle.

Yet, inside the Steelers facility, the vibes are telling a different story. The grind of training camp at St. Vincent College seems to have reinvigorated Rodgers after two turbulent seasons with the Jets. The stability and culture provided by Tomlin, the longest-tenured coach in North American professional sports, has provided a welcome change of scenery. In turn, Tomlin sees a player whose value can’t be measured by an average tier vote. “He loves football,” Tomlin explained. “He has a love affair with this game — one that he’s willing to share with others. He’s passionate about it, and I think it’s contagious.”

Ultimately, the Steelers’ season now hinges on this very conflict of perception. Is Aaron Rodgers a declining Tier 3 quarterback whose physical limitations will be exposed, validating the skepticism of 50 NFL insiders? Or is he the unicorn Tomlin sees in practice every day, a singular talent whose mind, arm, and contagious passion can elevate a 10-win team into a legitimate contender? The league has cast its votes, but in Pittsburgh, the only opinion that matters belongs to the man under center, who is now playing to prove that unicorns are, in fact, real.