With the 2025 NFL Draft just a few weeks away, it’s hard to believe that the Pittsburgh Steelers still haven’t nailed down their quarterback plans for the upcoming season. Though signing Aaron Rodgers seems more and more likely by the day, he continues to drag his feet on arguably the most consequential decision of the Steelers’ offseason. Team president Art Rooney II spoke about the Rodgers situation for the first time today at the NFL owners meetings in Florida.
“We keep hearing that he’s, I guess, headed in our direction, and so that seems to be all signs are positive so far,” Rooney said via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor on X.
Like GM Omar Khan said yesterday, Rooney added that it’s a positive sign to see Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf getting in a throwing session over the weekend.
Metcalf was already training at UCLA for several days and Rodgers lives in the area, so it wasn’t a large inconvenience to arrange that meeting, but a good sign for the Steelers nevertheless.
It wasn’t long ago that Rooney stated his preference as re-signing one of either Russell Wilson or Justin Fields. Both of them are now under contract with other teams, and the Steelers are left at the center of the NFL news cycle for weeks on end as Rodgers weighs his options.
How much longer are the Steelers willing to wait?
“Not forever, but a little while longer,” Rooney said via TribLive’s Joe Rutter on X.
Mike Tomlin spoke to the media over the last couple days and said there is no hard deadline for Rodgers to make his decision, though he later stated that training camp could be the natural deadline.
While Tomlin was more flexible in the language he used about deadlines, Rooney seems to be placing at least some sense of urgency on the situation. If it reaches a point where he’s had enough, then maybe the Steelers would get more serious about issuing Rodgers an ultimatum.
This is likely all part of what was talked about during Rodgers’ six-hour meeting with the Steelers a couple weeks ago. And the two sides have reportedly remained in consistent contact since that meeting.
Financial terms are more or less worked out, and Rodgers is basically out of options. It’s either play for the Steelers, retire or push forward with the hope that another team’s quarterback gets injured.
While I don’t think Rodgers’ decision would significantly alter their draft plans, it would be nice to have that assurance by the time the draft rolls around in a few weeks.
Rooney seems to feel pretty comfortable with the way things are headed, which is yet another sign of Rodgers eventually signing with the Steelers.
