{"id":497388,"date":"2026-03-01T11:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/497388\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T11:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:21:10","slug":"rapoport-aaron-rodgers-decision-surely-coming-before-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/497388\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapoport: Aaron Rodgers’ Decision ‘Surely’ Coming Before Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers want Aaron Rodgers back. That much was made clear during Omar Khan\u2019s media appearances on Tuesday, and Khan also made it clear that he didn\u2019t think<\/a> Rodgers\u2019 decision of whether to play or retire would take as long as offseason, when he signed with the team right before mandatory minicamp. According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, we might not even have to wait a month, with Rapoport confident that Rodgers\u2019 decision will come before the start of free agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had positive discussions with the Pittsburgh Steelers and his old friend Mike McCarthy. Surely an answer is coming before free agency,\u201d Rapoport said during the NFL Combine coverage on NFL Network on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Free agency begins on March 11, with the legal tampering period opening on March 9. It would be ideal for the Steelers to have a firm decision from Rodgers by then, as it would allow the team to move forward in free agency with Rodgers locked in as their quarterback. Not only could that help them attract potential free agents, but it lessens the need for the team to explore the veteran quarterback market in free agency.<\/p>\n

If Rodgers, who would be a free agent if he doesn\u2019t retire, signs his deal before free agency, it also gives the Steelers a better picture of how much money they have to spend. While they have a general idea now of what it would take to bring Rodgers back, getting something officially on the books would make the process much smoother.<\/p>\n

There hasn\u2019t been anything public from Rodgers since the end of the 2025 season, but Khan and Mike McCarthy both said they\u2019ve had conversations with the quarterback. He has a prior relationship with McCarthy, his head coach from 2006-2017 with the Green Bay Packers, and multiple members of McCarthy\u2019s new staff have worked with Rodgers before. That could be a further incentive for him to return and try to run it back after a disappointing Wild Card Round exit during his first season with the Steelers.<\/p>\n

Rapoport also noted that it \u201cfeels like\u201d it\u2019s Pittsburgh or nothing for Rodgers. That\u2019s been the general sentiment for a few weeks now, and Rapoport confirmed that Rodgers enjoyed his time with the Steelers and would like to play for McCarthy. It sounds like we\u2019ll find out whether or not that will wind up being the case soon, potentially within the week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers want Aaron Rodgers back. That much was made clear during Omar Khan\u2019s media appearances on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[224927,7144,34591,140989,349,30570,1331,99,3795],"class_list":{"0":"post-497388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-2026-nfl-combine","9":"tag-aaron-rodgers","10":"tag-ian-rapoport","11":"tag-mike-mccarthy","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-nfl-media","14":"tag-omar-khan","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-trending"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}