Aaron Rodgers says the 2026 NFL
season will be his last: 'This is it'
[May 21, 2026]
By WILL GRAVES
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers took his time before deciding he
wanted to come back for a 22nd season. The Pittsburgh Steelers
quarterback already has made up his mind about a 23rd: There won't
be one.
“This is it,” Rodgers said Wednesday when the four-time NFL MVP was
asked if this would be his final year.
The 42-year-old did not expand on why he came to that conclusion.
Maybe because there was no need.
Rodgers acknowledged that he thought his time in Pittsburgh — and
perhaps the league — was over when Steelers coach Mike Tomlin
stepped down the day after a blowout first-round playoff loss to
Houston in January.
Things changed when Pittsburgh hired Mike McCarthy a few weeks
later, a decision that Rodgers said he may have played a small role
in when he encouraged Steelers general manager Omar Khan to talk to
McCarthy. Rodgers and McCarthy spent 13 years together in Green Bay,
winning a Super Bowl while becoming a playoff fixture.
McCarthy and Rodgers stayed in constant communication in recent
months as Rodgers weighed whether to run it back one last time.
While there was no one tipping point, the relative health of his
42-year-old body and the chance to have his career come “full
circle" with a team that spent the offseason upgrading the offense
in hopes of ending a lengthy playoff victory drought led to a
reunion he called “surreal.”
“It is like a (bunch of) ‘pinch me’ moments that have happened in
the last few days,” Rodgers said following the second day of
Pittsburgh's voluntary organized team activities.
Perhaps because McCarthy hardly came back to his hometown alone.
The familiar faces from Rodgers' time in Green Bay are everywhere
inside the Steelers' facility, from defensive coordinator Patrick
Graham to offensive line coach James Campen. There are “getting the
band back together” vibes everywhere Rodgers looks.
When Rodgers plopped into a chair for a meeting on Monday, in many
ways it felt like it was 2006, when he was entering his second year
in Green Bay as Brett Favre's backup and McCarthy was a first-year
head coach still finding his way.
“Took me back to being a 22-year-old kid,” Rodgers said with a
smile.
Only he's hardly that anymore. While the oldest player in the NFL
turned back the clock enough last season to throw for 24 touchdowns
against seven interceptions and guide the Steelers to the AFC North
title, he also missed a game after breaking several bones in his
left wrist and looked very much his age during the second half of
what became a blowout loss to the Texans that ended both
Pittsburgh's season and Tomlin's largely successful 19-year run as
head coach.
Still, Rodgers believes he has enough left to attempt the rarest of
exits for players of his stature: the ability to go out on his own
terms.
McCarthy said Rodgers “can still throw it with anybody," though the
time of year when Rodgers will be asked to really cut it loose is
still months away. Perhaps Rodgers' most important job through OTAs,
minicamp and training camp is helping the Steelers prepare for life
without him.
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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers (8) and Will Howard
participate during NFL football practice in Pittsburgh, Wednesday,
May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
While McCarthy and Rodgers stayed in constant
communication as Rodgers hung out in Malibu, California, with his
wife and weighed his options for 2026, the Steelers selected Penn
State quarterback Drew Allar in the third round of the draft, and
McCarthy has talked up 2025 sixth-round choice Will Howard at every
turn since taking over.
Allar and Howard figure to be in the mix this time next year when
the Steelers restart their quest to find a long-term solution at the
game's most important position, a search that's been ongoing since
Ben Roethlisberger's retirement in January 2022.
Rodgers' presence offers a cheat code of sorts. He knows all the
answers to the test, particularly when the test is offered by
McCarthy. Allar and Howard will get to spend the next seven or so
months soaking up what they can from Rodgers about what McCarthy
wants and perhaps more importantly, how he wants it.
McCarthy called Rodgers “a tremendous resource” who also happens to
be a future Hall of Famer, giving him a certain cachet that might
make him a better conduit for what McCarthy is trying to teach than
the coach himself.
“It's like parenting,” McCarthy said. “I could sit there and tell my
kids something, and then, like if he’d walk in and tell my son
George something, he’d jump out the window and do it.”
While Rodgers took a friendly jab at Favre — whom he sat behind
during the first three years of his career — by borrowing a phrase
from Favre that mentoring is “not in my job description,” the
reality is it's a role he relishes.
Just not as much as the chance to win. When Rodgers signed with the
Steelers a year ago, he called the decision “best for my soul.” It's
much the same this time around.
He likes what the team has done by trading for wide receiver Michael
Pittman Jr., signing running back Rico Dowdle and drafting wideout
Germie Bernard. The offensive line could be better with Troy Fautanu
moving over to left tackle. The defense still has a pair of
franchise icons in defensive lineman Cam Heyward and outside
linebacker TJ Watt.
And now it has a quarterback eager to soak up every last bit of the
final chapter of a career that will end with a gold jacket and a
bust in the Hall of Fame. Just not quite yet.
“I am excited about these guys," he said. “I’m excited about the
team.”
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