Aaron Rodgers will definitely be retiring after the 2026 NFL season.
After months of speculation over the course of the 2025 NFL campaign, Rodgers revealed back in May that he would return to the Pittsburgh Steelers for one last chance at winning a second Super Bowl ring.
At the time of penning a one-year deal worth $22 million, the 42-year-old announced that it would be his 22nd – and final – season in the league.
Entering his final ever training camp, the veteran quarterback addressed reporters and spoke of how he thought the 2025 campaign would be his last, only to be convinced to play one more year.
“I thought last year might be it. And then Mike [McCarthy] got hired, and I talked to the wife and she said, ‘You can do one more year,” Rodgers revealed.
“I said, ‘Well, we’ll see if it works out.’ And then it kind of all came together.”
When asked a follow-up question of whether he thinks he would re-consider and continue to play, Rodgers replied, “Nope. Zero debate. Zero.”
Rodgers’ wife, Brittani, is relatively unknown in the public eye, with the two having secretly wed in early 2025, though aside from those details, Rodgers has kept his private life under wraps.
But she has clearly given her mark of approval for her husband to continue a playing career that will see him enshrined in the Hall of Fame one day.
In 21 years under center, including the playoffs, Rodgers has thrown for 72,314 passing yards and 572 touchdowns, and fired 137 interceptions.
This has seen him earn numerous accolades, including 10 Pro Bowl selections, four MVP awards, and a Super Bowl ring in 2010 – won with new Steelers head coach McCarthy when the two worked together at the Green Bay Packers.
Rodgers demands so much of his teammates
To be as successful as Rodgers has at the elite level for as long as he has, he has had to be extremely regimented, while also asking a lot of his teammates, especially those on offense.
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Ask Adam Thielen – a former wide receiver who briefly played for the Steelers in 2025 before retiring aged 35.
The undrafted turned All-Pro receiver spoke candidly of how Rodgers’ expectations during practice were so high that he would be stressed out by them.
“If you don’t know his hand signals, or you mess up a hand signal, you will not get the ball back for a week, and maybe longer,” Thielen said in a recent appearance on ESPN’s NFL Live. “If you’re a rookie, you’re not on the field again.
“I promise you I’ve never been more stressed in my life than practices with Aaron Rodgers,” he continued.
“I’m in the game and I don’t know what the defense is doing because I have to have my eyes on Aaron the entire time, because he can throw down a hand signal at any second, right before he says, ‘set, hut.’
“The thing about Aaron is that he isn’t going to go through a progression.”
The Steelers made some notable upgrades to bolster their offense for next season, drafting in Alabama star Germie Bernard in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft, adding to their first-round pick of offensive tackle Max Iheanachor out of Arizona State, to give Rodgers some additional protection.
They also traded for Michael Pittman Jr. to serve as WR2 to the very physical DK Metcalf, who led the team with 850 receiving yards and six scores last season.
Put simply, the Steelers have made the moves that they believe will not only see the Black and Yellow win back-to-back AFC North titles, but that they also hope will be able to contend for a Super Bowl to give Rodgers the ending to his career that he deserves.
