Hoping the Steelers aren’t swayed by these comments from Rodgers.

When you get word of Aaron Rodgers being set to appear on The Pat McAfee Show, it feels like you’re experiencing news from the town cryer. You’re startled, and you’re probably inclined to hear what’s about to happen to make sure it doesn’t affect you, personally.

Unfortunately for the Cleveland Browns, any news around Rodgers and his status with the Pittsburgh Steelers is going to impact them. The Browns’ draft strategy, as revealed slightly by general manager Andrew Berry on Thursday, is to see when a quarterback they like as a “long term bet” falls to them. If that’s at 33 or 67 or beyond, then that’s when they’ll swing on a signal caller.

One of those signal callers is likely set to be Jalen Milroe, who Cleveland has worked out and who has a connection to offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. He had his best season at Alabama with Rees calling plays, so the tie-in feels like a no brainer. Even if he sat on the bench to develop, he’d be in a great position to do so with a trusted coach like Rees helping him.

But, it seems like after Rodgers’ comments, Cleveland may need to trade back up into the draft as the Steelers might be just as interested in the potential of Milroe – especially if Rodgers retires after stringing them along.

Rodgers’ comments might shake up Browns’ draft strategy

Rodgers told McAfee on his show Thursday that all options are essentially on the table for him at this point. With just a week left until the draft, Rodgers has yet to decide on retirement, or signing with the Steelers, or signing elsewhere. That’s because of personal issues, according to Rodgers, so there may not be a resolution for a while.

“This entire time, I haven’t felt like I owed anybody some sort of decision at any point. This is my life. Like I said, things are different now. My life is different. My personal life is different … I’ve been up front with them about that. I said, ‘Listen, if you need to move on, if you need to do something, by all means. Nothing but love and respect.’ But there’s been no deadline, and I’ve talked to Mike (Tomlin) many times,” said Rodgers during the appearance.

If he remains unsigned by draft night, it feels possible that Pittsburgh gets desperate and snags Milroe at 21, where he’s likely to fall. The Steelers have no firepower at quarterback at all right now, so they need to figure out a plan quickly before they’re entirely out of options. Milroe could be someone they throw into the fire immediately while they survey other options at quarterback later.

Cleveland could probably make a trade up with them, likely leveraging their 2nd round pick and a few other Day 3 picks, but it feels almost not worth the trouble at that point. Milroe is, as Berry accidentally described, a “long term bet.” Cleveland might not want to risk picks for that bet.

Hopefully, Rodgers doesn’t have this butterfly effect on the Browns’ draft strategy, but all of us have seen this movie before. He seems primed to do just that.