The Steelers’ wait for Aaron Rodgers has not yet reached its expiration date.
That’s according to team president Art Rooney II, who said Wednesday the organization is willing to wait “a little while longer” for the four-time league MVP to decide his football future, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported.
Rooney’s comments echo similar sentiments made in April, when he told reporters at the NFL owners meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., he would not wait “forever, but a little while longer.”
Rodgers, coming off an unremarkable season with the Jets, has been the Steelers’ top quarterback target this offseason.
Although the 41-year-old Super Bowl winner has visited the Pittsburgh facility and has been in contact with team brᴀss, including coach Mike Tomlin, he said last month on “The Pat McAfee Show” that personal matters are the current priority.
“I am trying to be open to everything and not specifically attached to anything when it comes to this decision,” Rodgers said. “I’m just going through a lot in my personal life that has to take precedent at this point.”
He also made it clear he isn’t “stringing anybody along.”
Even as Rodgers has yet to make a definitive call about what’s next, his former Packers coach, Matt LaFleur, believes he’s bound for Pittsburgh.
“I’m pretty sure they know what they’re doing, I’m sure they’re confident in what they’re doing, and I would fully expect him to be a Pittsburgh Steeler,” LaFleur said this week on “Up & Adams” with Kay Adams.
Rodgers spent the first 18 years of his NFL career in Green Bay, and he played under LaFleur from 2019 to 2022.
The one-time Super Bowl champion was traded to the Jets ahead of the 2023 season — a season that ended prematurely when he suffered an Achilles injury just four plays into his New York tenure.
Rodgers returned for 2024 and appeared in all 17 games, throwing for 3,897 yards, 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
The Jets finished 5-12 and missed the playoffs.
The team, now guided by the new coach-GM tandem of Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey, parted ways with Rodgers and signed former Steelers QB Justin Fields in free agency.
The Jets open the 2025 season at home against the Steelers on Sept. 7.
It remains to be seen if Rodgers will be under center in black and gold.
