It’s Steelers or bust for Aaron Rodgers.
Pittsburgh put the right-of-first-refusal tender on Rodgers on Tuesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.
Schefter said it is “rare” for a team to utilize this option. It gives the Steelers the right to match any offer sheet he would sign with another team, while giving Rodgers a 10-percent raise from last year if he signs — pushing his one-year contract to approximately $15 million.
It also means that Rodgers can only sign with the Steelers once training camp begins.
The Steelers have been patiently waiting as the 42-year-old Rodgers makes his decision for the upcoming season after leading the team to the playoffs last year.
Pittsburgh acted this offseason as if Rodgers would return by not signing a proven quarterback in free agency.
The team drafted Penn State’s Drew Allar in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft on Friday, and he is set to to compete with Will Howard and Mason Rudolph for the starting job.
Howard, a sixth-round pick last year, did not play any snaps for the Steelers last season as the team’s third-stringer behind Rodgers and Rudolph.
“I wish I could tell you we’re at the end of the discussion, but we’re still talking to Aaron and he’s still deciding what he wants to do,” Steelers owner Art Rooney II said on the DVE Morning Show ahead of the draft last week.
“I think we’re close. He’s kind of told us his time frame and what he’s going to be up to over the next couple of weeks. I think we’ll have an answer soon, let’s put it that way.”
Rooney had previously said they expected a decision from Rodgers before the draft, but the QB is known to be fickle when making decisions about his future.
If Rodgers does return, it will be under a new head coach for the Steelers with Mike McCarthy replacing Mike Tomlin.
Tomlin, who left the Steelers after 19 seasons on the sidelines, predicted on Sunday that Rodgers would return to the Steelers.
“I just think being around him for the 12 months that I’m around him, he got a love affair with the game of football,” Tomlin, who is joining NBC as analyst this season, said in his network debut.
“And not only the game, but the process. The informal moments, the development of younger guys, the interaction with teammates. I think he has an addiction to that. And there’s only one way to feed it, and certainly, he is still capable and in really good shape, and so I think at the end of the day, he’ll play football.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
