The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t closing the door on QB Aaron Rodgers coming back in 2026, and Rodgers isn’t closing the door on playing beyond this season.
While Rodgers said that he was “pretty sure” 2025 would be his last year during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show in June, he’s since changed his tune, saying that 2025 “might not” be his final season, and then giving a slightly more definitive “maybe” when asked on Cam Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast if he’d come back next season.
More recently, in an interview with Adam Schein taped on Monday for SiriusXM, Rodgers admitted he doesn’t know if 2025 will be his last year.
“I don’t know. I mean, I’ll reassess all that in the end, but, you know, I signed a one-year contract, so there was nothing in there about playing longer than one year. But we’ll see how it goes. And, you know, obviously, you’d love to have success and be healthy, and we can start there with health and have some success and enjoy it. You know, make a run. That’d be really special, and then we’ll figure that out come next February.”
If Rodgers decides to play beyond this season, the Steelers would need to sign him to a new contract, with him only signing a one-year deal. Really, the Steelers’ willingness to do so, and potentially Rodgers’ decision about playing another season, could hinge on how this year goes. On one hand, it would be nice for Rodgers to go out on a high note with some success. But if he experiences that success and decides to continue playing, the Steelers may be inclined to give him another contract.
If Rodgers struggles, he may not want to end his career with a poor season, but then the Steelers (and likely most, if not all, teams around the league) would probably try to look elsewhere for a quarterback.
Regardless, it doesn’t sound like Rodgers really has his mind made up on what he wants to do after this season. While his comments on McAfee sounded definitive, his more recent comments have at least left the question in the balance. Maybe it depends on how Rodgers performs this season, or perhaps it just depends on how he feels physically as he goes through the grind of another 17-game season. He’s the only one who truly knows where his heart is right now.
However, given Omar Khan’s comments about not closing the door on Rodgers returning in 2026 and his recent statements, his tenure with the Steelers can’t be immediately written off as a one-year arrangement.
