Jason Burgos
One notable NFL expert believes there was a very specific reason why Aaron Rodgers waited until this week to re-sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and it wasn’t about haggling over money.
After a few months of speculation and rumors, the inevitable happened, and NFL legend Aaron Rodgers put pen to paper on a new one-year deal with the Steelers. Most around the league expected him to return to Pittsburgh for a second season. Especially since the team didn’t give him much of a choice.
When the Steelers used the unrestricted free agent tender on the 42-year-old, it severely limited his options to sign elsewhere because Pittsburgh would land compensatory draft picks if he joined another team. So why did it take until May for Rodgers to finally sign a contract?
Aaron Rodgers wanted to see the Steelers schedule first before re-signing?
Some have speculated that he still wasn’t sure if he would play one more season. Others have suggested he wasn’t totally sold on a reunion with his former Green Bay Packers head coach, Mike McCarthy. However, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio has a different idea: Rodgers wanted to get a look at the Steelers 2026 schedule first.
Florio suggests that he waited until after May 14, when schedules were released, to spite the NFL, because if they knew he would be back in 2026, they would place more Steelers games in primetime during the first half of the season. And the four-time NFL MVP would have no interest in helping the league out. But maybe he just wanted to see how difficult the road to the playoffs might be?
While Pittsburgh doesn’t have an easy schedule next season, it is not among the five to six worst. Knowing that they don’t have a killer schedule might have given Rodgers the final confirmation he needed to return for another season and run for the playoffs in 2026. Because in the end, he only wants another year in the league for more wins and glory.
