The Pittsburgh Steelers asked Aaron Rodgers to dance after being turned down by several other, prettier QBs, but the veteran continues to keep them at arm’s length. The Steelers can’t get in close for the slow dance with the 41-year-old, not that they haven’t shown the necessary patience you’d need to get the mercurial Rodgers to eventually commit.
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Rodgers gave a couple of hints last week that he might be heading to Pittsburgh, but they were very vague. He said definitively he wouldn’t play for the Saints, who are the only other team without a clear plan at QB. And he also said he might play for a team that’s taking a road trip to Chicago, which the Steelers are.
Nonetheless, we continue to get updates and reports without anything concrete. Rodgers is still a free man, and the Steelers still have a QB depth chart that goes Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, and Skylar Thompson. And while some had sympathy for Pittsburgh at first—Rodgers is arguably the most polarizing player in the league—Rodgers’ former teammate James Jones says that sympathy is long gone after this extended waiting game.
“They got no choice if he doesn’t sign, I think we’re at the point now to like: ‘What you have on your roster’s on your roster,'” said the former receiver on an episode of The Facility.
“Now, if Aaron Rodgers wakes up tomorrow and says, ‘Hey, I’m ready to sign.’ Then yes, you sign him. But right now, you gotta make sure you get Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson, and Will Howard ready. Whether you like it or not, that’s the situation you’ve put yourself in… It is your fault you’re in this situation anyways.”
"Get them 3 ready to go. It's your fault you're in this situation anyways."@89JonesNTAF on how the Steelers should handle the Aaron Rodgers situation if he does not sign pic.twitter.com/QNv38v6QrH
— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) June 2, 2025
Rodgers’ biographer Ian O’Connor recently said that there are some personal issues that the QB is currently working through. He also said that he believed that Rodgers had essentially committed to Pittsburgh “verbally.”
“I just think verbally, behind the scenes, not that he guaranteed it, but he’s told [the Steelers], ‘Listen, I’m gonna play for you. I just don’t want to go there and then miss part of mandatory minicamp because of my personal issues. I’m pretty sure they’re gonna be solved by the end of May, at least in my satisfaction where I can give you my all.'”
However, there is nothing to suggest—apart from their continued patience—that the Steelers feel confident that he’s going to come eventually. ESPN’s Dan Graziano said that if Rodgers isn’t in Latrobe for training camp when it gets underway in a month and a half, Pittsburgh will move on.
“If Rodgers is not there by the time they go to training camp in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, [in] late July, then I think that’s when the Steelers start to look at other options. As of now, we are just waiting on Aaron Rodgers.”
But move on to where? It certainly seems that whoever they bring in would serve only as a backup. Perhaps Tyler Huntley and Carson Wentz? A trade for Kirk Cousins seems unlikely as well, as he would likely want to come in and start, which the Steelers don’t seem keen on.
As Ari Meirov reported, this whole Rodgers debacle might be a blessing in disguise. Because they have no reasonable answer at QB — they received just four primetime games.
If Rodgers had signed earlier, they very likely would have received 6+, much like the lowly Jets did last year. Now, they have a much more balanced schedule that could help their mediocre QBs push the team to yet another competitive season.
