The four-time MVP needs to provide clarity soon.
The Pittsburgh Steelers expect to learn whether Aaron Rodgers will play in the 2026 season before next month’s NFL Draft.
Rodgers helped the Steelers to a 10-7 record and an AFC North title last year, though Pittsburgh suffered a heavy defeat to the Houston Texans in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. Head coach Mike Tomlin’s 19-season tenure came to an end following ninth successive year without a playoff win.
Pittsburgh hired Rodgers’ former head coach with the Green Bay Packers, Mike McCarthy, as Tomlin’s successor.
Yet the 42-year-old four-time MVP has yet to make a decision as to whether he will reunite with McCarthy and spend a second season with the Steelers.
But with the draft just over three weeks away, Steelers president Art Rooney II is confident they will have an answer on his plans soon.
“I still expect that,” Rooney told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at the annual league meetings in Arizona. “I expect we’ll get an answer before the draft.
“When I talked to him and [general manager] Omar [Khan] talked to him, he told us he wasn’t going to take as long this year as he did last year [to make a decision].
“I’m not 100 percent sure what that means, but I expect something before the draft.”
The Steelers will be extremely keen for clarity on Rodgers’ intentions given the only two quarterbacks on their roster are career backup Mason Rudolph and 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard.
Rodgers signed a one-year contract with the Steelers last offseason after parting with the New York Jets. He completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 3,322 yards with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
