As the Steelers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers continue to do whatever it is they’re doing in 2026, it’s a good day to look back at what they did in 2025.
On this day — March 21 — Rodgers made his secret trip to Pittsburgh.
Well, it wasn’t a secret. Word got out as it was happening. And the end result was that Rodgers spent six hours or so with coach Mike Tomlin and other members of the organization.
It eventually became clear that, at some point that day, Rodgers and Tomlin came up with a plan for Rodgers’s eventual arrival. The likely thinking was that Rodgers would be less of a distraction if he had yet to sign than if he were under contract but wasn’t attending the voluntary portions of the offseason program.
Not everyone got the memo. As the team waited, veteran defensive tackle Cam Heyward said this: “I ain’t doing that darkness retreat. I don’t need any of that crap. Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don’t. That’s simple, that’s the pitch. If you want me to recruit, that’s the recruiting pitch. Pittsburgh Steelers — if you want to be part of it, so be it. If you don’t, no skin off my back.”
This year, with Rodgers recently saying there have been no “progressive conversations” between him and the team, Heyward’s comments become relevant again.
Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don’t.
This year, there’s a new coach. It’s Rodgers’s old coach. And there was just enough of a cloud over the final years of the former partnership between Rodgers and Mike McCarthy to make it fair to ask whether both sides are truly interested in a reunion.
McCarthy and the Steelers seem to be. As to Rodgers, who knows?
At this point, one thing is clear. The timeline for 2026, which was supposed to be tighter than it was a year ago, as of today, falls behind the 2025 schedule.
The Steelers have left the light on for Rodgers. They’re the dog with a nose pressed against the front window, waiting for the owner to get home.
Through it all, other viable options have landed elsewhere. Not many capable, plug-and-play veterans remain.
Will it be Rodgers? Who knows? Through it all, Steelers fans will once again be dismayed by the fact that their favorite team is sitting around waiting for a 42-year-old quarterback whose name, through nearly two weeks of free agency, has yet to be connected to any other NFL team.
