In the aftermath of the Pittsburgh Steelers' embarrassing 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans in the Wild Card Round this past January, longtime Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, despite previously stating that the 2025 season would probably be his last, left the door open for a potential return in 2026.
Naturally, the four-time NFL MVP, as he does, has taken his sweet time making up his mind whether to return or retire. And the Steelers, who are basically his only option at this point, apparently have no idea which way he's leaning, and NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported on Monday that there is no expectation that anything will change before Pittsburgh starts making picks in the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft.
Steelers GM Omar Khan did at least confirm that the team has communicated with Rodgers, which is at least something, but if you scroll through social media, you'll see that Packers fans just can't get enough of watching their old QB hold Pittsburgh hostage for a second straight year. And make no mistake about it; that's exactly what he's doing. And the fact that the Steelers' new head coach is none other than Mike McCarthy only makes the situation that much more hilarious.
Aaron Rodgers waited until June last year to sign with the Steelers
It genuinely is astonishing to see the power Rodgers still has after all these years, as the Steelers are clearly banking on him returning for a second season, as their QB room currently consists of Mason Rudolph, who's made 14 starts for the franchise since being selected in the third round of the 2018 draft, and Will Howard, who was taken in the sixth round of last year's draft but didn't take a single regular-season snap in 2025.
Pittsburgh could very well take a quarterback in the draft, but outside of likely No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, this is a fairly weak class of signal-callers. They could perhaps trade up to get Alabama's Ty Simpson, but that scenario seems highly unlikely.
As they did a year ago, the Steelers will seemingly just have to wait to see what Rodgers does. And that decision may not come anytime soon, as he didn't come to terms on his contract for the 2025 season until early June, inking his deal just ahead of mandatory minicamp.
So, perhaps that's the same scenario that plays out this year as well. For what it's worth, Rodgers had a fairly solid season, completing 65.7 percent of his passes for 3,322 yards with 24 touchdowns against just seven interceptions. But he certainly didn't look great in the playoff loss, connecting on just 17 of 33 throws for 146 yards with no touchdowns and a pick.
Enjoy the waiting game, Steelers fans.
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