Rooney: Door Open For Aaron Rodgers Steelers Return

The Steelers have hired an offense-oriented head coach for the first time in 60 years. The coach they hired happens to have considerable experience coaching Pittsburgh’s 2025 starting quarterback. After some rumors indicating the Steelers would be interested in extending their Aaron Rodgers partnership to a second season emerged, Art Rooney II confirmed them.

Rooney said upon hiring Mike McCarthy the Steelers are interested in a second Rodgers season. While indicating Rodgers’ status did not affect the team’s McCarthy decision, the longtime owner noted the door is open for Rodgers to stay in Pittsburgh and play a 22nd NFL season.

“We don’t know what Aaron’s plans are right now, and that did not weigh heavily in the decision,” Rooney said of the McCarthy hire, via The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo. “We’ll see where Aaron is, and we’ve left the door open, but obviously we all have to sit down and see if that makes sense. So that’ll happen sometime in the next month or so. But the decision was made based on Mike being the coach we want, and it really had very little to do with whether Aaron is going to be back or not.”

Rooney had said several days ago Mike Tomlin‘s departure would likely affect Rodgers’ Steelers future, but upon McCarthy being hired to coach in his native Pittsburgh, a reported pointed to Rodgers not slamming the door on playing for the veteran HC once again. Rodgers, of course, was the Packers’ starter for 11 seasons with McCarthy at the helm. Overall, the Super Bowl-winning HC coached the future Hall of Fame QB from 2006 until his firing during the 2018 season. Rodgers won two of his four MVP awards under McCarthy, who was Green Bay’s play-caller for almost all of that stretch.

Although Rodgers did not exactly flash prime form this past season, the Steelers could use him as a bridge quarterback. Rodgers, 42, ranked 23rd in QBR — one spot behind where Russell Wilson ranked in 2024. Though, teams had Rodgers slotted higher in the free agency queue than Wilson last year. The Steelers, though, would have preferred Matthew Stafford or a Justin Fields re-signing to Rodgers. The Vikings appealed to Rodgers more than the Steelers, but when Minnesota did not express sufficient interest, it became Pittsburgh or retirement for the recent Jets starter.

While Rodgers said the 2025 season most likely would be his last, a report in late December pegged him as not being committed to retiring. It would be quite Rodgers-like for this decision to drag on; after all, he did not finally commit to the Steelers until June 2025.

Pittsburgh’s latest playoff one-and-done leaves the team with the No. 21 overall pick. That might be enough to land the top non-Fernando Mendoza QB option in this year’s class, but the talent pool looks much thinner than it was projected to at last season’s outset. It is possible non-Raiders teams will need to consider eyeing their rookie options in 2027 rather than 2026, though some younger QBs — Kyler Murray, Tua Tagovailoa among them — are in play to relocate.

For now, though, the Steelers have let it be known they are interested in pairing Rodgers with McCarthy again after seven seasons apart. The team did not set a deadline on Rodgers last year, but with other veteran options likely set to come up as starters in 2026, it will likely need to hear from the all-time great sooner this offseason.