In a Wednesday appearance with Pat McAfee, quarterback Aaron Rodgers made it clear that he hasn’t decided whether he’ll play in 2026. He also made it clear that there have been no talks with the Steelers that would lead to him playing a second season in Pittsburgh.
“I’ve talked to [coach] Mike [McCarthy], I’ve talked to Omar [Khan],” Rodgers said. “There’s been no deadline that’s been, you know, that’s been put in front of me. There’s no contract offer or anything, so there’s nothing that I’m having to debate between. I’m a free agent and, again, I’m enjoying my time with my wife and enjoying this part of the offseason and, you know, I think there’s conversations to be had down the line, but right now, I’m not — there hasn’t been any progressive conversations. You know, I love Mike, and Mike and I have kept in contact over the years. I’ve had conversations with Omar. I really — I think Omar, you know, enjoyed having me there. I think the guys had a positive response to our time together. But again, there hasn’t been any deadline set on me. There hasn’t been any contract, you know, floated in front of me for me to like, well, ‘We’re giving you ‘til, you know, March the 8th to make a decision on this contract.’ There’s been nothing to that respect.”
Rodgers added that he’s “interested in what the conversations will be, but there hasn’t been any progression when it comes to that.”
On one hand, it’s no surprise. Last year, Rodgers didn’t visit Pittsburgh until March 21. That was the point, in hindsight, that he decided to play for the Steelers in 2025. And the two sides, by all appearances, decided it would be better for him to not sign a contract until the mandatory minicamp in June than to sign in late March and skip the entirety of the offseason program, until the mandatory minicamp.
Either way, his status was going to be a topic of public discussion and speculation. A distraction, if you will. And it was determined it would be less of a distraction for him to not be on the team than it would be for him to be on the team but not present for offseason team activities.
Besides, the Steelers didn’t pivot to Rodgers until after Justin Fields left for the Jets, taking a better contract than the Steelers were willing to offer. As free agency approached a year ago, the Steelers’ plan was to re-sign Fields or Russell Wilson, but not both. It wasn’t until after the Steelers knew that Fields wasn’t an option (they never seriously pursued Wilson) that they moved to Plan B. And they were content to bring back Mason Rudolph in the early days of free agency — and to make Rudolph and Skylar Thompson the primary options until they added Will Howard in the sixth round of the draft.
This year, it’s Rudolph and Howard with a general desire to retain Rodgers. And they’re supposedly willing to wait for Rodgers, as they did a year ago.
Starting next week, more facts will come to light. Will the Steelers pursue an available veteran? (If they’re willing to wait for Rodgers, they won’t.) Will they bring back Fields on a bargain-basement deal if/when he’s released by the Jets, who owe him $10 million for 2026?
And will Rodgers explore other options? He made it clear late in the 2025 season that he believes he’ll have at least one. Could Minnesota react differently to his overtures than it did a year ago? Could another team give him a call?
He didn’t spontaneously blurt out the fact that he’s a free agent. He knows he can go anywhere. Whether and to what extent anyone else pursues him next week will become a factor.
So we’ll see. However it plays out, the most likely outcome is that he’ll wait again, if only to avoid being under contract for as much of the voluntary offseason program as possible.
