My fellow football fans, our long national nightmare is over.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday that four-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers has finally officially agreed to return to the Pittsburgh Steelers for the 2026 season.
“Compensation update: Aaron Rodgers is expected to sign a one-year deal worth up to $25 million, per sources,” Schefter wrote. “The deal is expected to include a base salary between $22 and $23 million, with up to a few million more in incentives. The deal still needs to be finalized and signed.”
Rodgers, 42, similarly dragged out his 2025 offseason decision, waiting until June to sign a one-year, $13.65 million contract with the Steelers, per ESPN.
Former Steelers backup quarterback Charlie Batch floated the idea that Rodgers was holding out for a bigger contract in early April.
“When it comes to Aaron, this is a guy who outplayed his contract,” Batch said on “The Snap Count.” “I will stand by this. I may be the only one saying this at this particular point. This decision is coming down to money. The Steelers would like him to come back, but it’s not going to be at the $13 million number.”
Batch continued, “I’m sure Aaron, and I have not spoken to him, but I’m sure his representatives are wanting something closer to $30 [million], and you hope that, somewhere, you meet in the middle. If they’re able to do so, Aaron will be back. If not, he’s gonna walk away and say, ‘I’m done.’ That’s why you have not heard his decision.”
Who knows whether Batch was correct, but the final contract number suggests, at the very least, it wasn’t a cartoonish stance to take.
Taking his sweet time has sort of become Rodgers’ thing since 2023, when Rodgers introduced “darkness retreat” into the mainstream lexicon before the Green Bay Packers traded him to the New York Jets. Rodgers tore his Achilles four snaps into his Jets tenure, missing the entirety of the 2023 season.
In May 2024, reports surfaced that Rodgers had considered retiring to be the running mate for then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. That July, he made headlines for traveling to Egypt and missing the Jets’ mandatory minicamp. Once the offseason circus died down, Rodgers started 17 games for the 5-12 Jets in 2024. New York released him in January 2025, setting the table for Season 1 of the Rodgers-Steelers will-they-won’t-they saga.
Now that Rodgers has reportedly agreed to rejoin the Steelers, the hope in Pittsburgh is that he can perform as decently as he did last season.
Rodgers threw for 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns, and seven interceptions on 65.7% completion across 16 regular-season games. On paper, his numbers were slightly above average, but watching the Steelers’ offense was painful more often than not, with little to no vertical game.
The Steelers went 10-7 and reached the playoffs for a third straight year — and got crushed in the AFC Wild Card for the third straight year. Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh’s head coach since 2007, stepped down after the 30-6 loss to Houston.
It was the perfect opportunity for Pittsburgh to bottom out and start a franchise rebuild, especially given how stacked the 2027 draft class is purported to be. Instead, the Steelers hired Mike McCarthy as Tomlin’s successor to signal a total lack of interest in giving up their status in the middle of the pack. Welcoming Rodgers back is the nail in the status quo coffin.
Even if they likely won’t be very good, the Steelers will be interesting, if for no other reason than that McCarthy coached Rodgers in Green Bay from 2006 to 2018. They won a Super Bowl together 15 years ago, and neither has sniffed a second one since then.
Rodgers may have negotiated a bigger payday for his 22nd season, but it’s a gamble for him to come back. Tomlin’s teams never finished a season below .500. He was the straw that stirred it all in Pittsburgh. McCarthy, of course, proved to be a good head coach in Green Bay and Dallas, but there’s only so much any coach can do for the second-oldest roster in the NFL.
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