Steelers place rarely-used UFA tender on Aaron Rodgers
PITTSBURGH — In one thing of an insurance coverage transfer, the Pittsburgh Steelers positioned the hardly ever used UFA tender on Aaron Rodgers earlier than Monday’s postdraft deadline.
The UFA tender preserves the Steelers’ proper to obtain a compensatory draft decide within the occasion Rodgers indicators with one other workforce whereas additionally limiting his means to signal with one other workforce as soon as coaching camp begins. The Steelers can have unique negotiating rights for Rodgers if he doesn’t signal with one other workforce by July 22 or the primary day of Pittsburgh’s coaching camp, which is later.
Another situation of the tender is that Rodgers may settle for a ten% elevate off final yr’s wage, which might pay him about $15 million this season.
Despite utilizing the tender on him, the Steelers stay assured Rodgers will in the end signal with them, and the transfer is taken into account a “procedural” one, one workforce supply instructed ESPN. The tag isn’t used as a result of there aren’t usually unrestricted free brokers of Rodgers’ caliber — ones able to having a major affect on a workforce’s compensatory picks — accessible at this level within the league yr.
A yr in the past, Rodgers waited to signal till early June, signing his one-year cope with the Steelers simply earlier than obligatory minicamp. At the NFL scouting mix in February, Pittsburgh basic supervisor Omar Khan was assured this yr’s saga would not be a repeat of the 2025 offseason.
With new head coach Mike McCarthy, the Steelers’ offseason schedule is totally different from a yr in the past. The Steelers are set to have their first voluntary OTA session on May 18, whereas obligatory minicamp is scheduled for June 2-4 with extra voluntary OTAs scheduled later.
As they await Rodgers’ resolution, the Steelers proactively added to their quarterbacks room by drafting Penn State product Drew Allar within the third spherical. McCarthy, although, mentioned including Allar to a room that additionally consists of Will Howard and Mason Rudolph had no bearing on their scenario with Rodgers.
“No, not at all,” McCarthy said Saturday. “This is about developing the room and trying to make the room as deep as we possibly can.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter contributed to this report.
