While most of America is locked into March Madness, Nick Wright is being driven mad by Aaron Rodgers.
On Friday’s episode of FS1’s First Things First, an exasperated Wright called out Rodgers, 42, for leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers hanging yet again. The four-time NFL MVP waited until June before signing a one-year contract with the Steelers last year, and he doesn’t seem to be in a rush to officially commit to Pittsburgh now.
“I think they should sign Kirk Cousins,” Wright said. “I am offended on the Steelers’ behalf that Rodgers is just such a delicate snowflake that he can’t make his decision yet. You can be like, ‘Nick, why are you then not bothered about Kirk Cousins?’ I don’t think there is a team in the league that has said to Kirk Cousins, ‘You’re our starter.’ So, I think Kirk is waiting to survey the landscape in a way a lot of the second- and third-wave veteran free agents are. That’s not this.”
It didn’t end there.
Wright continued:
“It is inexplicable, bordering on indefensible, why Aaron Rodgers is not on the Steelers yet. Assuming the Steelers want him, which it appears they do. This whole ‘they haven’t offered me a contract’ nonsense he peddled to [Pat] McAfee — I tried to be nice the day of it, and then, I was like, Nick, just be honest with the audience. This is all kayfabe. This is wrestling, at this point.
For some reason, he needs to be special. He can’t sign in the regular wave of free agency. He can’t just be a part of the regular timeline of a season. And this is four years of this now! From a darkness retreat to all of it. I just don’t know how many implausible Aaron Rodgers stories I have to come onto TV and pretend I believe.”
Wright called it “debasing” that Rodgers is keeping up a charade that he is undecided on playing football in 2026 and returning to the Steelers.
Dating back to his darkness retreat in February 2023, Rodgers has been the main character in NFL offseason drama.
The Green Bay Packers traded Rodgers to the New York Jets in April 2023. Rodgers tore his Achilles just four snaps into his first game as Jets QB1. The following offseason, Rodgers traveled to Egypt and missed the Jets’ mandatory minicamp, which caused almost as much uproar as reports that Rodgers was considering becoming Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate. After a lackluster 5-12 2024 campaign, the Jets released Rodgers in January 2025, which set up his prolonged courtship with Pittsburgh last year.
Rodgers did not convey an iota of urgency when discussing his 2026 plans on The Pat McAfee Show on March 4. He said he’d been “spending a lot of time with my wife” before offering that the Steelers haven’t offered him a deal.
“There’s been no deadline that’s been put in front of me,” Rodgers said. “There’s no contract offer or anything, so there’s nothing that I’m having to debate between.”
Rodgers also said that he’s been in contact with Steelers general manager Omar Khan and newly hired head coach Mike McCarthy, with whom Rodgers won his lone Super Bowl in Green Bay 15 years ago.
As for the Kirk Cousins element, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer gave credence to Pittsburgh as an option for the 37-year-old “if Aaron Rodgers decides not to come back.”
At the start of NFL free agency earlier this month, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Steelers are “hopeful” and “optimistic” that Rodgers will return. The general consensus among prominent NFL reporters — and even Steelers All-Pro defensive lineman Cameron Heyward — is that Rodgers re-signing with the Steelers in 2026 is just a matter of when Rodgers gets around to it. Déjà vu.