PHOENIX — Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II believes it won’t be much longer before the world knows if Aaron Rodgers will return to his team for the coming season.
“I would say by the draft,” Rooney said Tuesday, “I expect an answer.”
Rodgers, a four-time NFL MVP quarterback, has not publicly declared if he will play a 22nd pro season in 2026. He joined the Steelers last season, winning 10 of his 16 starts and leading them to the AFC North title as a 41-year-old.
Last year, Rodgers did not sign until June. Speaking at the conclusion of NFL owners meetings Tuesday at the Arizona Biltmore resort, Rooney II said he “think(s) a decision (from Rodgers) is probably coming soon.”
Rooney, though, said he has not spoken with Rodgers himself. New head coach Mike McCarthy, however, speaks with Rodgers regularly — including, McCarthy said Tuesday, as recently as Monday evening.
McCarthy on Tuesday termed himself “confident” that Rodgers will return for a second season with the Steelers, “but at the end of the day, it’s a personal decision. So I think we’re in a good space.”
McCarthy on Tuesday during the AFC coaches breakfast said he spoke with Rodgers the prior evening and that the two talk “regularly.”
“It’s been good, it’s been very positive,” McCarthy said of his contact with Rodgers, “and we continue to talk.”
Steelers coach Mike McCarthy recalled his first owners meeting media availability and the first question that day in 2006 was about a veteran future HOF QB and if he’s coming back (Brett Favre) - and 20 years later it’s the same line of questioning (Aaron Rodgers) pic.twitter.com/u6JJMxJjTx
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) March 31, 2026
Couldn’t pass it up
Even as a young boy growing up in Greenfield, McCarthy couldn’t have envisioned the coaching career he would end up having at football’s highest level.
“To sit here and say that … in my fifth grade diaries, I wrote down I wanted to be the head coach of three NFL teams, that’s not true,” McCarthy said Tuesday.
The context in which McCarthy was speaking was being asked if he believed he would get another shot at being a head coach after he parted ways with the Dallas Cowboys in January 2025.
“I have confidence in my abilities, but I’m also realistic,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy was 61 at the time, coming off five seasons in Dallas that followed 13 in Green Bay — with a “gap year” in between.
Though he owns a Super Bowl ring and 174 career victories, McCarthy has presided over just one postseason win since the 2016 season. Still, he remains one of the more respected offensive minds in the sport.
“I have a lot of confidence in my education and my experience through the league and feel that I would have a lot to offer to a club,” McCarthy said. “But I’ve also been around the block a few times. I’m very comfortable in my own skin. And I’m not going to lie to you, I love being a full-time dad. I’ve been able to do it twice, you know, ’19 and this past year. And the year off was very, very rewarding for me. So that’s why this opportunity (to coach the Steelers), just the way it came about, I had to come back. If there was ever a no-brainer opportunity in my lifetime, this was it.”
