Aaron Rodgers took a lot of time before signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers last year. It dragged a bit, honestly. For a while, it felt like nothing was going to pan out, but then it did. Rodgers came in, settled things down, and the season held together better than expected. The same thing is happening this year, as the future Hall of Famer still hasn’t decided on his future.
Cam Heyward Speaks on Aaron Rodgers’ Future With Steelers
The team went 10-7, won the division, and most weeks it looked fine. Not amazing but not broken either. Then the playoffs happened, wherein Pittsburgh lost in the Wild Card round to the Houston Texans, and the year ended the way Steelers seasons usually have lately. After that, head coach Mike Tomlin left, and the whole situation got a little harder to read.
This offseason is still in a lull. New head coach Mike McCarthy is in. Rodgers hasn’t said much. And nobody sounds like they are pushing for a faster decision. Steelers’ All-Pro defensive lineman Cam Heyward kind of summed that up. He recently appeared on “The Rich Eisen Show” and got asked the obvious question: Where is Aaron Rodgers?
“Oh man, he might be on a darkness retreat,” Heyward said. “Might be shooting season two of Enigma, or he might just be getting ready for Jeopardy. You know, my guy can do a lot of different things, but he’ll be ready for the season hopefully.”
It felt kind of accurate, as Rodgers does his own thing in the offseason. That’s not new. And at this point, nobody in Pittsburgh seems surprised by it. What matters more is what happens once the season starts. Last year, that part worked.
According to PFSN’s Quarterback Impact Metric, Rodgers finished last season ranked 29th in the league with an impact score of 71.4. He threw for 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions while completing 65.7% of his throws.
Next, when Heyward was asked when Pittsburgh is going to get an answer on the Rodgers’ situation, he replied:
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“I think everybody is all in on him, right?” Heyward added. “And I think that’s just from what we got to see this season, we were pleasantly surprised [by] how great he was… How he went about his business, was accountable, held others accountable, loves the game, and just studies his as* off,”
“I haven’t seen many guys to that level of just knowing the insides and outs of, you know, football,” Heyward continued. “Whether it was Ben [Roethlisberger] or him, those two, they just operate on a different scale.”
Rodgers turns 43 next season. And yeah, that matters. You can still win with him. That part isn’t really the question. The question is how long can the Steelers keep doing it.
Bringing him back gives the team another year of competitiveness. They will probably make the playoffs again, but it will be hard for them to win the Super Bowl. Rodgers is a decent option for them in 2026, but the Steelers have to start looking at getting a new franchise quarterback or trying to mold Will Howard into one.
