Aaron Rodgers was the oldest player in the NFL last season—that is, until 44-year-old Philip Rivers’ late-season comeback out of retirement. But with Rivers now done for good, Rodgers, who turns 43 in December, is the eldest statesmen in the league as he enters his final season. He’s gone on record in stating that the 2026 NFL season will be his 22nd and final as a professional football player as he’ll have his last ride with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Rodgers thought that the 2025 season would be his last but decided to run it back for Year 22. Thus, what’s to stop him from having those same second thoughts once this season comes to an end? Well, according to Rodgers, it is Rodgers himself, who is ruling out the possibility of playing beyond 2026.
On the first day of full training camp for the Steelers, Rodgers was asked by the media about the notion of him potentially returning for 2027.
“No,” Rodgers replied while shaking his head. “Zero debate. Zero.”
He also went into detail about what incentivized him to return for this season.
“I thought last year might be it,” Rodgers admitted. “And then Mike [McCarthy] got hired, and I talked to the wife and she said, ‘You can do one more year.’ I said, ‘Well, we’ll see if it works out.' And then it kind of all came together.”
After longtime coach Mike Tomlin left Pittsburgh in the offseason, the franchise pivoted and landed on Rodgers’ longtime head coach with the Green Bay Packers in Mike McCarthy. The two spent 13 years together, highlighted by winning a Super Bowl, and the Steelers named the Pittsburgh native their new head coach while Rodgers was still undecided about playing this season.
That, along with the backing of Rodgers’ wife, was enough to convince the quarterback to suit up one last time. He and Pittsburgh are coming off a 10-win season in which the team made the playoffs but were bounced in the Wild Card Round, 30–6, at the hands of the Houston Texans.
So, with Year 22 not to be followed by Year 23, everything Rodgers is going through at training camp is the last time he’ll go through it. That includes moving into the dorm at Saint Latrobe College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, going through conditioning tests, getting to know the incoming rookie class, and come August 13, his last first preseason game.
Most players don’t know that their last time playing will ultimately be their last time, as they’re usually forced out of the game rather than leaving willingly. That’s not the case with Rodgers, who was asked if there was any added emotion or sentiment in doing everything for the final time.
“I thought it might. Last year it felt way more dramatic to me,” revealed Rodgers. “Like it’s my last arrival to training camp. And this year it doesn’t feel anything. I really don’t—I’m just happy to be out here with the guys. Good to see some of their faces I haven’t seen in a while. Good to see the six guys that went on the [ranch] trip with us again. I feel like there’s like a tighter bond. They'll have to bring in some of the other guys who weren’t at that trip, but it was good.”
Rodgers is coming off a season with 3,322 passing yards, 24 passing touchdowns, and a 94.8 passer rating. He also authored three game-winning drives and even added a rushing touchdown, his first since 2022.
A 10-time Pro Bowler, Rodgers has some statistical leaderboards and personal milestones he could reach this season. He is 13 passing touchdowns away from surpassing Peyton Manning for the third-most in NFL history. Additionally, Rodgers is 3,726 passing yards away from reaching the 70,000 yards mark, which would make him just the fifth ever to do so. That’s a yardage he’s reached in a season in 13 of the 15 years in which he’s played at least 10 games.
While personal milestones would be a feather in the cap, the biggest reason Rodgers is sticking around for one more year is to get another shot at a second Super Bowl. His first, and only, Super Bowl win came back in the 2010 season, and if Pittsburgh can defy the odds, make it to Super Bowl LXI, and win, then 16 years will have passed in between Rodgers’ rings. That would shatter the all-time NFL record for the longest gap between a player’s first two Super Bowl victories, which is 12 years by Ray Lewis.
The first preseason game for Rodgers will, coincidentally, be a reunion matchup for both him and McCarthy as the Steelers will host the Packers on Aug. 13. After two more preseason exhibitions, the Steelers will start their 2026 NFL season with a Week 1 matchup at home versus the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 13.
