For all the mystery Aaron Rodgers allowed to fester about whether he would join the Pittsburgh Steelers during either of the past two seasons, the four-time NFL MVP left little ambiguity about whether he will play for them – or anyone else – in 2027.
Will 2026 be his final NFL season?
“Yes,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “This is it.”
At 42 years old and embarking on his 22nd NFL season, Rodgers officially joined the Steelers on Monday. He took part in the practice-like organized team activities session that day, and did so again Wednesday.
That Rodgers joined the Steelers for the first of the voluntary full-squad OTAs was notable because he did not sign last year until OTAs ended and on the Steelers were on the precipice of mandatory minicamp. And last June, he did not take the field for those minicamp sessions.
The first two days of these OTAs, Rodgers has been a full participant.
Aaron Rodgers says he thought he was done with the Steelers after Mike Tomlin retired — but Mike McCarthy’s hire reopened up that possibility pic.twitter.com/SwGOqCPQrs
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) May 20, 2026
Through much of the buildup to the 2025 season, Rodgers indicated he was considering retirement after it ended but never committed to it. When Mike Tomlin resigned as coach a day after the Steelers lost in the wild-card round of the playoffs, team president Art Rooney II said he believed that because Rodgers had been so adamant in coming to Pittsburgh that he wanted to play for Tomlin that he did not expect Rodgers to return under a new head coach.
But Rodgers on Tuesday said he recommended to general manager Omar Khan in January that the Steelers interview McCarthy, who was his coach for 13 seasons with the Green Bay Packers and with whom he won Super Bowl XLV.
Steelers coach Mike McCarthy on the arrival of Aaron Rodgers pic.twitter.com/4qlXkttL6M
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) May 20, 2026
Rodgers on Tuesday described it as “emotional” when Tomlin stepped down “because we all loved him so much.”
“I thought that was probably it for me in Pittsburgh,” he said. “But when the decision was made to hire (McCarthy), I started opening my mind back up to coming back.”
Aaron Rodgers says there was doubt about whether he would play for the Steelers in 2026 but that “after the draft I concluded that I wanted to play and I wanted to come back.” pic.twitter.com/HjitSPRZsr
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) May 20, 2026
Rodgers termed himself “honest” from the beginning with McCarthy, Khan and Rooney about his intentions for playing in 2026. McCarthy said Tuesday that their discussions had included that it would be most ideal of Rodgers joined the team in time for OTAs.
In the end, that’s exactly the timeline under which it played out – even if the four months between the end of the 2025 season and Rodgers signing on with the 2026 Steelers seemed to take much longer.
“I wasn’t under contract,” Rodgers said, “so I could take as much time as I want.”
As far as McCarthy is concerned, Rodgers was worth the wait.
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