Pittsburgh Steelers fans only get a short span of time to see Aaron Rodgers, 42, as the team’s quarterback.
Now it may be shorter as Rodgers has confirmed that he’s “pretty sure” this coming season will be his last. Rodgers signed with the Steelers as a free agency this offseason after he spent the past two years with the New York Jets.
“Steelers didn’t need to put any extra years on that or anything, so this was really about finishing with a lot of love and fun and peace for the career that I’ve had,” Rodgers said. “I played 20 fricking years. It’s been a long run.”
“I’ve enjoyed it, and no better place to finish than in one of the cornerstone franchises of the NFL with Mike Tomlin and a great group of leadership and great guys in the city that expects you to win,” Rodgers added.
Rodgers hasn’t been back since either amid four-straight NFC Championship Game losses between 2015 and 2021. He never led the Jets to the playoffs due to injury in his first year and a topsy-turvy 2024 season that included a coach and general manager firing.
“It’s not really ‘(I) can’t go out like this,’” Rodgers said. “I love the game, and there’s been a beautiful relationship.”
“It was my first love when I was 6 years old, dreaming about playing quarterback and being in the Super Bowl and winning in the Super Bowl,” he added. “I wanted to be there for minicamp once I decided I was going to be all-in, but I didn’t need this. I didn’t need it at all.”
“I don’t feel the need to prove anything to anybody or don’t have any chip on my shoulder. I don’t want the attention,” Rodgers said. “I’m going to give the Steelers everything that I got and empty the tank and be super comfortable and satisfied with whatever happens.”
Rodgers will get to face both of his former teams this season with a Week 1 game against the Jets on Sept. 7 and a Week 8 game against the Packers on Oct. 26. He had a storied career with the Packers where he won four MVPs and set multiple franchise passing records.
While Rodgers will be in the spotlight again this year, his new wife won’t be. He confirmed with McAfee that he did get married this offseason, but Rdogers doubled down that her life will remain private.
“It’s a sick society,” Rodgers explained. “I lived in the public eye for 20 years. I had a public relationship. How did that work out?”
“Now I’m with somebody who’s private, who doesn’t want to be in the public eye, didn’t sign up to be a celebrity, doesn’t want to be a part of it,” he added. “My private life is my private life, and it’s going to stay that way.”
“And I’m with somebody who wants to be private and if and when she wants to be out and there’s a picture, she'll choose that, and she deserves the right to that,” Rodgers concluded.
His working quarterback-coach relationship with Tomlin, of course, won’t be private, and that will be a dynamic many will watch for in 2024. Tomlin has been through five starting quarterbacks since Ben Roethlisberger retired in 2021, and Rodgers played for two different coaches in New York after Packers head coach Matt Lafleur drafted quarterback Jordan Love two years before Rodgers’ exodus to New York.
“I had so many other things going on in my life that were taking my mind and my energy elsewhere and that’s why I appreciated how Mike was the entire time,” Rodgers said regarding the time he took to sign with the Steelers. “Just being able to have those conversations, honest conversations every single week was really meaningful to me, and the way that I was welcomed in was really cool.”
