Hosting the NFL Draft for the first time in nearly 80 years, Art Rooney II and the Pittsburgh Steelers want the three-day event to be all about the city. Not Aaron Rodgers. It’s the reason Rooney cited the draft as a timeline, if not a deadline, for Rodgers to inform the Steelers whether or not he intends to play in 2026.
Earlier this week, CBS Sports’ insider Jonathan Jones reacted to Rooney’s comments and detailed why pre-April 23rd is so important.
“As I said on CBS Sports HQ earlier today, the Steelers want the QB question settled before the focus shifts on the city for the event,” Jones tweeted.
As I said on CBS Sports HQ earlier today, the Steelers want the QB question settled before the focus shifts on the city for the event. https://t.co/UocSaKPVBz
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) March 31, 2026
Importantly, Rooney never explained why he expects an answer pre-draft. The only basis for his commentary seemingly comes from a Gerry Dulac article in which Rooney said Rodgers told the team his process wouldn’t take as long as the 2025 offseason. Rodgers didn’t officially sign his contract until early June, right before mandatory minicamp. But even when making that comment to Dulac, Rooney admitted he didn’t know exactly what Rodgers meant.
In theory, Rodgers could delay his decision until post-draft and still stay true to his word, reaching it, say, in May instead of June. But it seems Pittsburgh wants the saga solved before the NFL world converges on the city in less than three weeks. To avoid the media chatter about Rodgers throughout the weekend and put sole focus on a city getting to host the league’s second-biggest event on the calendar.
Hosting the draft has been one of Rooney’s goals for many years. Pittsburgh’s only other time doing so came for the 1948 edition. A time so long ago, it took place in December 1947 in a hotel. Little fanfare and hardly any attention outside of football die-hards and newspaper reports. The Steelers selected Texas QB Bobby Layne, who refused to play for the team and was traded to the Chicago Bears (a decade later, Layne would end his career with the Steelers).
The national media loves discussing Aaron Rodgers. For the past two months, it’s been the only topic of discussion regarding Pittsburgh. Rooney doesn’t want the Rodgers’ story to take all the oxygen up during the three-day weekend. Leaving the storyline ongoing through the draft is bad optics for a team that’s shown extreme patience in consecutive offseasons.
It’s why Rooney expects an answer soon. Whether or not he gets it, and what happens if he doesn’t, remains to be seen.