Why are the Steelers waiting on Aaron Rodgers? What other choice do they have?

After all the drama, all the drawn-out selections and adjustments of coronary heart and relentless hypothesis about his legendary quarterback’s intentions, Mike McCarthy lastly snapped.

It occurred throughout a day apply at Clarke Hinkle Field, the place the Green Bay Packers have been staging one among the NFL’s most surreal training camps of the twenty first Century. I used to be amongst the 1000’s who witnessed that uneven, sloppy session again in August of 2008, a part of a days-long Summer of Favre sojourn that dominated my journalistic actuality.

By the time I left Titletown, Brett Favre had been traded to the New York Jets, permitting the Aaron Rodgers Era — finally — to proceed as deliberate. That decision was a direct results of McCarthy’s frustration, an emotion enunciated by the third-year coach in a consequential team meeting that happened a couple of hours after the “lousy” apply that pushed him over the edge.

Eighteen years later, McCarthy is a much more unflappable man. That’s lucky, given his present state of affairs. Less than 4 months into his tenure as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ fourth head coach since 1969, McCarthy should as soon as once more navigate the uncertainty surrounding a legendary quarterback’s plans.

This time, in fact, Rodgers is the one answerable for the melodrama, though a far tamer manifestation of it than the insanity Favre generated in his ultimate days in Green Bay.

Then once more, there’s one other vital distinction between the Summer of Favre and the second consecutive A-Rod Spring. In 2008, the Packers had a viable fallback plan: a willingness handy the ball to a former first-round draft decide who’d spent three years growing into an obvious inheritor.

The 2026 Steelers? Not a lot. They’re praying Rodgers, who’ll flip 43 this season, will get again in the ring to take one other swing.

Otherwise — at the least on paper — they do not appear to have a puncher’s likelihood of getting again to the playoffs.

Chances are, it should all work out. Last yr, the Steelers introduced that Rodgers had agreed to a one-year contract in early June, lower than every week earlier than the begin of the group’s necessary minicamp. If Rodgers follows that very same timeline in 2026, he’ll get his deal carried out in late May and report for the minicamp that begins June 2.

Yet as with all issues regarding Rodgers in the latter phases of his excellent profession, issues have gotten a bit of unusual. Nothing too excessive up to now — no darkness retreat, ayahuasca journey or draft-night hijacking — however nonetheless, sufficient to make the Steelers really feel only a bit uneasy.

Back in late March, Pittsburgh proprietor Art Rooney II advised reporters he anticipated Rodgers to determine on his future by the NFL Draft. When that did not occur, the Steelers made a seemingly weird procedural transfer, putting the rarely-used “unrestricted free agent tender” on the quarterback.

The tag units up the group for a compensatory draft decide ought to Rodgers determine to signal elsewhere, permits Rodgers to play just for Pittsburgh as soon as coaching camp begins and, if unsigned by Week 10, precludes him from taking part in wherever in 2026 absent a discovering of “extreme hardship” by an impartial arbitrator. Boxing him in felt a bit aggressive, in mild of the beforehand expressed optimism from organizational sources. And on condition that no other group has been credibly linked to Rodgers, the transaction piqued lots of people’s curiosity.

The intrigue grew final Thursday when a Pittsburgh radio station, 93.7 The Fan, reported that Rodgers could be in the metropolis over the weekend and was anticipated to signal with the Steelers, with NFL Network shortly confirming the go to. The subsequent day, throughout an interview with Westwood One radioPittsburgh normal supervisor Omar Khan stated, “I don’t know where, specifically, Aaron is.”

Good occasions.

Essentially, in response to a group supply, the Steelers’ powers that have been caught off guard by studies of Rodgers’ obvious go to to Pittsburgh, as no plans for a gathering had been made. They declare to be out of the loop.

And now, they wait.

It’s a well-known place. Last offseason, Rodgers explored the possibility of signing with the Minnesota Vikings, who in the end determined towards making the transfer. He spent months speaking with McCarthy’s predecessor, Mike Tomlin, earlier than settling on the Steelers as his subsequent vacation spot.

At coaching camp final summer time, Rodgers told me his connection to Tomlin — and the coach’s empathy and endurance as the quarterback struggled with some off-the-field trauma — was the major purpose he’d chosen to return for a twenty first season.

It wasn’t all the time fairly, however the partnership proved to be a productive one. Although not almost as cellular as he was throughout his day, the four-time MVP went on a powerful late-season run, main the Steelers to 4 victories of their ultimate 5 regular-season video games, together with a dramatic, AFC North-clinching victory over the Baltimore Ravens on “Sunday Night Football.”

Then, in the playoffs, all of it got here crashing down: The Houston Texans’ protection swallowed up Rodgers and the Steelers, establishing what appeared like an inglorious exit.

Tomlin’s subsequent choice to step away, after a 19-year run with no dropping season, made Rodgers’ return seem even much less seemingly. The growing older Steelers, almost a decade faraway from their most up-to-date playoff victory, appeared poised for a reboot. They might have employed a promising coach in his 30s — as they had with Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Tomlin — and had religion that he’d develop into the job and hoist a Lombardi Trophy. They might have traded star edge rusher TJ Watt and endure a roster overhaul.

Instead, they stayed in win-now mode and employed the 62-year-old McCarthy.

That injected a brand new dynamic into a possible Rodgers return. Although the two males clashed semi-frequently throughout their extremely profitable, 13-season partnership in Green Bay—I once compared them to the “two visionaries” depicted in an iconic “This Is Spinal Tap” scene — time away appeared to extend their appreciation for each other.

Early indicators pointed to a reunion. McCarthy stated he was in common communication with the quarterback, and the group’s actions over the previous two months have prompt confidence that he’ll return.

The inform is the lack of a contingency plan. The Steelers might have protected themselves towards the chance of Rodgers not coming again in quite a lot of methods, from buying and selling for a youthful participant (Malik Willis, Mac Jones) to focusing on a longtime veteran (Geno Smith, Kirk Cousins) to shifting up in the first spherical to draft Alabama’s Ty Simpson.

They did none of that, that means that the present choices past Rodgers are veteran backup Mason Rudolph, 2025 sixth-round decide Will Howard and former Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, who Pittsburgh chosen in the third spherical of final month’s draft.

In other phrases, the prospects of breaking that seven-game postseason dropping streak — and even attending to the playoffs — look fairly bleak if Rodgers is not again in (yellow and) black.

McCarthy, with 12 playoff appearances and a Super Bowl victory in his 18 seasons as an NFL coach, does not have time or tolerance for protracted uncertainty at the sport’s most vital place, nor ought to he. The Steelers, as a result of they basically stood pat, want Rodgers — and which means they have little choice however to attend this out and hope for the finest.

Essentially, Rodgers has the leverage, and this may play out on his timeline.

If cash is at the root of his indecision, nicely, I’m inclined to take the quarterback’s aspect. He performed for simply $13.65 million in 2025, a vastly below-market deal. The unrestricted free-agent tender established a roughly $15 million wage for 2026, however the group can — and may — supply him considerably extra given his worth and the lack of a viable different.

Pay the man, and when you’re fortunate, he’ll present up for at the least a slice of the offseason program.

And if he does not? McCarthy has seen a whole lot of drama throughout his profession, most just lately a five-year run as the Dallas Cowboys’ coach that included three consecutive 12-5 seasons. At this stage, it takes lots to make him flinch. Yet if the uncertainty surrounding Rodgers drags on and he senses the group is being disrupted, it might evoke recollections of that surreal summer time of 2008.

McCarthy’s breaking level — a horrible apply he traced to his personal distractedness — was a clarifying second for him and his gamers. One of them, future first-ballot Hall of Famer Charles Woodson, advised me pointedly on that fateful Tuesday afternoon, “I think (the drama surrounding Favre) should end today. We should be talking about the team; Instead, we’ve talked about one guy for the last five minutes. “This is a situation unique to itself, and it has become its own monster.”

That evening, McCarthy acknowledged as a lot to his gamers, apologizing for having missed the earlier evening’s assembly (whereas making an attempt to hash out a decision with Favre and normal supervisor Ted Thompson) and promising that the worst was over.

The subsequent day, the Packers had a a lot crisper apply, Favre boarded a flight to Mississippi and, inside hours, Green Bay accomplished the commerce with the Jets.

I can nonetheless recall the exasperation in McCarthy’s voice as he walked off the apply discipline that morning and, for the subsequent quarter-hour or so, reviewed the craziness of the earlier a number of days.

“I’m a football coach,” he stated. “I know (talking to the media) is part of my job description, and I don’t mind doing it, but I have no desire to stand out there and answer all the political questions. I’m going to tell the truth, and that’s that. I’m not going to be politically correct. I’m sick of it.”

This time, I think, McCarthy might be way more affected person. What other choice does he have?