Former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava has finally broken his silence on his decision to enter the transfer portal, publicly refuting allegations that he intended to sit out the College Football Playoff game against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
“(Expletive) I tried to sit out and throw the playoff game too?” Iamaleava wrote on his Instagram Story on Friday, posting photos from the game. “These boys just make me laugh man ain’t no way.”
He piled on the sarcasm with a photo of himself and teammate Navy Shuler, joking they’d conspired to “throw this game (real quick)”—complete with laughing emojis.
These posts come in the wake of reports that Iamaleava leveraged his participation in the playoff to negotiate a new NIL deal with the Volunteers. The messages no longer appear on Iamaleava’s Instagram Story.Â
On3’s Pete Nakos reported that discussions between Iamaleava’s camp and Tennessee’s NIL collective occurred prior to the Orange and White spring game. After missing practice the next day, head coach Josh Heupel confirmed the quarterback’s departure, sparking speculation about his next move.
Now in the transfer portal, Iamaleava’s name continues to be linked to the UCLA Bruins. According to Nakos, the deal has yet to be completed, but the smoke around the West Coast interest isn’t fading.
The ongoing saga highlights the tightrope walk of NIL deals in modern college football, which many analysts have pointed out could hamper the growth of the game.
Tennessee may also need to turn to the transfer portal to find the team’s next quarterback. If not, Jake Merklinger or George MacIntyre are next in line to win the starting job.
When Steelers legend Cam Heyward uttered those words last month regarding free-agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers, they resonated with Steelers fans. The justifiably elite franchise, owners of six Lombardi Trophies, is too proud to beg. Or at least it should be. For weeks, the vibe has been that the Steelers are sufficiently desperate to wait (and wait . . . and wait) for Rodgers to decide whether he wants to be a Steeler.
On Thursday, Rodgers finally explained the reason for his delayed timetable. He repeatedly referred during an unplanned appearance on his ESPN safe space/bully pulpit to a personal issue involving someone in his inner circle. For whatever reason, he’d kept that fact close to the vest before Thursday. His deliberate silence created the impression that he didn’t want to be a Steeler, at least not until he knows he doesn’t have any better options. And that perception that Rodgers allowed to fester turned off Steelers fans.
After Thursday, they’re turned off even more.
It’s hard to put much stock in Twitter polls. However, we’ve now done two of them that pose the question (ideally to Steelers fans only) as to whether they want Rodgers to join the team. One came on March 25, four days after he spent six hours in Pittsburgh. The other was posted on Friday, a day after he finally dropped a fact or two into the vacuum he had created.
The first time, with 11,286 responses, 55.9 percent said no. The second time — after he settled scores and aired grievances and beat a long-dead horse with no name (we’ll call it COVID) — 11,854 responded. And 70.3 percent said no.
Despite the inherent flaws of any publicly-available poll (especially those landing on social-media cesspools), this is as apples-to-apples as it can be. Same question. Same platform. Same group of potential respondents. On March 25, 55.9 percent said no to Rodgers. Less than a month later, the number shot to 70.3 percent.
The Steelers should take heed. I’d previously argued that Steelers fans should embrace Rodgers, because he’s far better than any other option they have. I’ve now done a 180. While he’s better than Mason Rudolph or Skylar Thompson or whoever else they might land, Rodgers is no longer good enough to be worth the hassle. And there will be a hassle.
Although I’ve long argued that franchise quarterbacks shouldn’t be told “you just work here,” Rodgers consistently comes off as a guy who wants to run the place. When he was blasting the Jets on Thursday for not playing a multi-hour game with him before saying they want to move on, he seemed surprised that the new regime didn’t want to pick the beautiful mind of a 20-year veteran whom they don’t want on the team.
He pulled the same shit when sparking a passive-aggressive fight with Packers coach Matt LaFleur over “the audible thing.” LaFleur’s offense gave the quarterback limited flexibility to change the play that was called in the huddle. Rodgers was mystified that LaFleur wouldn’t give an experienced (and brilliant) quarterback permission to do whatever he wanted. And Rodgers made it into a public thing, until LaFleur realized that the best way to get along with a delicate genius would be to go along with his wishes.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin might believe he can control Rodgers. If anyone can, it’s Tomlin. The concern should be that no one can, and that waiting for Rodgers and heralding Rodgers and letting Rodgers be Rodgers is not what the Steelers do. No matter how desperate they are to win a playoff game for the first time since the 2016 season.
We’ve heard from plenty of Steelers fans who would rather suffer through a losing season with Rudolph than any season with Rodgers. We suspect that some members of the organization, fresh from the Russell Wilson year, may not want to deal with another aging quarterback who will take the air out of the building.
Will the Steelers listen to their customers? At a minimum, they should be doing their own polling and/or convening focus groups to take the temperature of the fan base. If their findings mesh with ours, they should make it clear that Rodgers won’t be wearing black and gold in 2025. Or ever.
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