It's the most frustrating storyline in football: When will Aaron Rodgers decide whether he plans to play in the 2026 season? Last year, Rodgers didn't make that decision until June 5, when he showed up like a knight in shining armor and inked a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. This year, fans won't be able to wait that long before losing their minds.
The Steelers gave Rodgers a 'hard' deadline once this offseason... or so we thought.
On April 1, team president Art Rooney II insisted that the team wanted an answer from Rodgers by the 2026 NFL Draft. General manager Omar Khan was also adamant in February at the NFL Combine that the team wouldn't wait as long for a decision from the aging quarterback.
Yet, here we are, and there hasn't been so much as a peep from Rodgers or the organization about his return.
It's possible the Steelers could know Rodgers' intentions. He might have told the team that he plans to come back, but on his time. Pittsburgh's decision-makers can't let that fly this year. Rodgers needs an actual hard deadline—and one that should come very soon.
The Pittsburgh Steelers should give Aaron Rodgers until the start of OTAs to return to the team
With Organized Team Activities beginning on May 18, this needs to be the final stopping point. Rodgers is no longer a good enough quarterback to justify missing valuable team-building time with his young players, and allowing the 42-year-old to skip OTAs and show up for mandatory minicamp in June (as he did last year) is setting a horrible precedent for the rest of the team.
Thus, the Steelers should not only demand a decision from Rodgers by May 18, but that's the hard deadline date they should set for him to be at the facility with a deal already signed. If Rodgers plans to play one more season in the NFL, the least he can do is put his teammates over an extended vacation time and pour his heart and soul into one final season—one that hopefully ends with playoff success.
If the choice were up to me, I would have moved on from Rodgers early in the offseason. Rodgers was dead last in the NFL with the shortest time to throw last season and worst among qualifying quarterbacks in completed air yards per pass attempt. He no longer possesses consistent big-play ability, and he shies away from contact.
While the Steelers don't have a respectable option to turn to at the moment, that's largely due to inexperience in the quarterback room. Setting a hard deadline for Rodgers would finally give Pittsburgh a clear direction.
If he doesn't show up by May 18, Mike McCarthy and the coaching staff could pour into Will Howard and Drew Allar, the two young QBs, as they battle it out for the starting gig in 2025 (we know who Mason Rudolph is at this point and what he offers).
The time is now, Steelers. Either Aaron Rodgers knows he wants to keep playing, or he doesn't. Set a hard May 18 deadline and actually stick to it.
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