05/20/26 03:46:00
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05/20 15:45 CDT Aaron Rodgers says the 2026 NFL season will be his last: 'This
is it'
Aaron Rodgers says the 2026 NFL season will be his last: 'This is it'
By WILL GRAVES
AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) --- Aaron Rodgers took his time before deciding he wanted to
come back for a 22nd season. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback already has
made up his mind about a 23rd: There won't be one.
"This is it," Rodgers said Wednesday when the four-time NFL MVP was asked if
this would be his final year.
The 42-year-old did not expand on why he came to that conclusion. Maybe because
there was no need.
Rodgers acknowledged that he thought his time in Pittsburgh --- and perhaps the
league --- was over when Steelers coach Mike Tomlin stepped down the day after
a blowout first-round playoff loss to Houston in January.
Things changed when Pittsburgh hired Mike McCarthy a few weeks later, a
decision that Rodgers said he may have played a small role in when he
encouraged Steelers general manager Omar Khan to talk to McCarthy. Rodgers and
McCarthy spent 13 years together in Green Bay, winning a Super Bowl while
becoming a playoff fixture.
McCarthy and Rodgers stayed in constant communication in recent months as
Rodgers weighed whether to run it back one last time. While there was no one
tipping point, the relative health of his 42-year-old body and the chance to
have his career come "full circle" with a team that spent the offseason
upgrading the offense in hopes of ending a lengthy playoff victory drought led
to a reunion he called "surreal."
"It is like a (bunch of) ?pinch me' moments that have happened in the last few
days," Rodgers said following the second day of Pittsburgh's voluntary
organized team activities.
Perhaps because McCarthy hardly came back to his hometown alone.
The familiar faces from Rodgers' time in Green Bay are everywhere inside the
Steelers' facility, from defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to offensive line
coach James Campen. There are "getting the band back together" vibes everywhere
Rodgers looks.
When Rodgers plopped into a chair for a meeting on Monday, in many ways it felt
like it was 2006, when he was entering his second year in Green Bay as Brett
Favre's backup and McCarthy was a first-year head coach still finding his way.
"Took me back to being a 22-year-old kid," Rodgers said with a smile.
Only he's hardly that anymore. While the oldest player in the NFL turned back
the clock enough last season to throw for 24 touchdowns against seven
interceptions and guide the Steelers to the AFC North title, he also missed a
game after breaking several bones in his left wrist and looked very much his
age during the second half of what became a blowout loss to the Texans that
ended both Pittsburgh's season and Tomlin's largely successful 19-year run as
head coach.
Still, Rodgers believes he has enough left to attempt the rarest of exits for
players of his stature: the ability to go out on his own terms.
McCarthy said Rodgers "can still throw it with anybody," though the time of
year when Rodgers will be asked to really cut it loose is still months away.
Perhaps Rodgers' most important job through OTAs, minicamp and training camp is
helping the Steelers prepare for life without him.
While McCarthy and Rodgers stayed in constant communication as Rodgers hung out
in Malibu, California, with his wife and weighed his options for 2026, the
Steelers selected Penn State quarterback Drew Allar in the third round of the
draft, and McCarthy has talked up 2025 sixth-round choice Will Howard at every
turn since taking over.
Allar and Howard figure to be in the mix this time next year when the Steelers
restart their quest to find a long-term solution at the game's most important
position, a search that's been ongoing since Ben Roethlisberger's retirement in
January 2022.
Rodgers' presence offers a cheat code of sorts. He knows all the answers to the
test, particularly when the test is offered by McCarthy. Allar and Howard will
get to spend the next seven or so months soaking up what they can from Rodgers
about what McCarthy wants and perhaps more importantly, how he wants it.
McCarthy called Rodgers "a tremendous resource" who also happens to be a future
Hall of Famer, giving him a certain cachet that might make him a better conduit
for what McCarthy is trying to teach than the coach himself.
"It's like parenting," McCarthy said. "I could sit there and tell my kids
something, and then, like if he'd walk in and tell my son George something,
he'd jump out the window and do it."
While Rodgers took a friendly jab at Favre --- whom he sat behind during the
first three years of his career --- by borrowing a phrase from Favre that
mentoring is "not in my job description," the reality is it's a role he
relishes.
Just not as much as the chance to win. When Rodgers signed with the Steelers a
year ago, he called the decision "best for my soul." It's much the same this
time around.
He likes what the team has done by trading for wide receiver Michael Pittman
Jr., signing running back Rico Dowdle and drafting wideout Germie Bernard. The
offensive line could be better with Troy Fautanu moving over to left tackle.
The defense still has a pair of franchise icons in defensive lineman Cam
Heyward and outside linebacker TJ Watt.
And now it has a quarterback eager to soak up every last bit of the final
chapter of a career that will end with a gold jacket and a bust in the Hall of
Fame. Just not quite yet.
"I am excited about these guys," he said. "I'm excited about the team."
___
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