{"id":683884,"date":"2026-05-20T22:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/683884\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T22:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:20:14","slug":"aaron-rodgers-says-this-will-be-his-last-nfl-season-after-mike-mccarthy-helped-pull-him-back-to-the-steelers-this-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/683884\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Rodgers says this will be his last NFL season after Mike McCarthy helped pull him back to the Steelers: ‘This is it’"},"content":{"rendered":"

There will be no further offseasons of intrigue around Aaron Rodgers<\/a>\u2019 playing status.<\/p>\n

So says Aaron Rodgers. The Pittsburgh<\/a> quarterback, fresh off of signing a one-year deal to return to the Steelers<\/a>, told reporters Wednesday that he intends for this upcoming season to be his last as an NFL quarterback.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Rodgers said when asked if this would be his last year. \u201cThis is it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodgers made his declaration in his first public comments since agreeing to return to the Steelers on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Rodgers, 42, is re-joining the Steelers for his second season in Pittsburgh. The four-time MVP with the Green Bay Packers<\/a> will be playing his 22nd NFL season.<\/p>\n

Play 2026 Soccer Pick ‘Em with FOX One and make your picks for the world’s biggest soccer tournament<\/a><\/p>\n

He returns to a Steelers team that hired his former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy to replace longtime head coach Mike Tomlin, who retired in the offseason after 19 seasons in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Rodgers: McCarthy hiring impacted his decision to return<\/p>\n

Per ESPN\u2019s Brooke Pryor<\/a>, Pittsburgh\u2019s decision to hire McCarthy played a role in Rodgers\u2019 decision to return for another season.<\/p>\n

“I thought that was probably it for me in Pittsburgh,\u201d Rodgers said of Tomlin\u2019s retirement. \u201cBut when the decision was made to hire Mike, I started opening my mind back up to coming back.”<\/p>\n

\"Dec<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers says the 2026 with the Steelers will be his last as an NFL quarterback.<\/p>\n

(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect \/ REUTERS)<\/p>\n

He said he made his decision to return<\/a> after April\u2019s NFL Draft and that he suggested McCarthy as a coaching candidate<\/a> to Steelers general manager Omar Khan.<\/p>\n

Rodgers told reporters<\/a> that working with McCarthy is \u201csurreal\u201d and that his meeting with the head coach Monday morning was a \u201cpinch me\u201d moment that reminded him of his first season alongside McCarthy in 2006.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

What\u2019s expected of Rodgers, McCarthy in 2026<\/p>\n

Rodgers returns to a Steelers franchise in flux. McCarthy is just the fourth Steelers head coach since 1968. Tomlin, Bill Cowher and Chuck Noll combined to coach the franchise for 57 seasons.<\/p>\n

The Steelers are coming off a 10-7 season in which they won the AFC North, but were outmatched in a 30-6 wild-card round loss to the Houston Texans<\/a>. They have an aging defense and an offense led by a 42-year-old in Rodgers who is obviously not the quarterback of the future.<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers\u2019 career stats entering 2026<\/p>\n

Passing TDs (rank)<\/p>\n

Passing yards (rank)<\/p>\n

QB rating (rank)<\/p>\n

Completions (rank)<\/p>\n

527 (fourth)<\/p>\n

66,274 (fifth)<\/p>\n

102.2 (first-tied)<\/p>\n

1,526 (fifth)<\/p>\n

The Steelers are bringing Rodgers back to play for McCarthy with the intent of keeping a team that hasn\u2019t posted a losing record since 2003 competitive.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Rodgers, understandably, was far from his MVP form in 2025. The arm strength that was his trademark alongside his unparalleled accuracy during his peak has waned.<\/p>\n

But he was efficient and showed flashes of his former excellence while completing 65.7% of his passes for 6.7 yards per attempt and 207.6 yards per game with 24 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.<\/p>\n

The Steelers are hoping for more of the same as they aim to take another shot at the playoffs in 2026. Beyond next postseason, the plan in Pittsburgh is unclear. But the burden won\u2019t fall on Rodgers\u2019 shoulders after that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There will be no further offseasons of intrigue around Aaron Rodgers\u2019 playing status. So says Aaron Rodgers. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[626,64,63,1255,42500,593,5132,85,5350,109265,53311],"class_list":["post-683884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-houston-texans","tag-mike-tomlin","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-sports","tag-steelers","tag-the-green-bay-packers","tag-the-steelers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}