Tom Pelissero of NFL Network believes there’s a hidden message behind Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers revealing that this season will be his final one. It’s very rare that a player would come out and say this will be a farewell tour, but the four-time NFL MVP did just that.
“ Aaron Rodgers never says anything accidentally,” Pelissero said on The Rich Eisen Show . “Whether he is, a decade ago, telling people to r-e-l-a-x. When it is calling out teammates, when it is making certain points about or not about football, everything that he says has a reason behind it. … By saying, ‘This is it’, it also puts the rest of that locker room on notice. I need everything out of all of you because this is it.
“He says it publicly, but he means it so that everybody in that locker room hears it. 2026 is my final year. I’m not back for the money; I”m not back for publicity. I’m back to win it all right now, so whatever you got, leave it all on the field.
Pittsburgh Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers takes part in the team’s first OTA practice on Monday, May 18. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Speaking after his team’s second practice of OTAs at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Wednesday, Rodgers confirmed that his 22nd season will be his last.
“Yes. This is it,” Rodgers said when he was asked about whether he had considered it possibly being his final season.
Rodgers added that he thought his career was likely over at the end of the 2025 season, after Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stepped down. Rodgers assumed the Steelers would go with a younger head coach from one of the hot coaching trees around the league, and that he wouldn’t be an option.
But he encouraged Steelers general manager Omar Khan to interview Mike McCarthy anyway, and when McCarthy got the job, he was intrigued about the idea of coming back.
“There’s definitely a full circle moment,” Rodgers said of returning to the offense and for the head coach that he spent his first 14 NFL seasons.
Aaron Rodgers finished 15th in the NFL in passing yards (3,322) last season, along with posting an impressive 24-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He played in 16 of the 17 regular season games, only missing the Week 12 game against the Chicago Bears due to a suffering multiple fractures in his non-throwing (left) wrist.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Did Aaron Rodgers Have Hidden Message in Retirement Comments?
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