{"id":766989,"date":"2026-02-21T14:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/766989\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T14:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:59:22","slug":"heard-pretty-much-the-opposite-fittipaldo-says-rodgers-trending-to-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/766989\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Heard Pretty Much The Opposite:’ Fittipaldo Says Rodgers ‘Trending’ To Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to Aaron Rodgers, it\u2019s always been hard for the Pittsburgh Steelers, or anyone else, to guess his next move. He had them waiting until just before mandatory minicamp last offseason. While the Steelers would certainly be better off hearing his decision in more of a timely manner this time around, Aditi Kinkhabwala indicated this week that the wait could still take months.<\/a> She also believes Rodgers is closer to retirement than anything else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve actually heard pretty much the opposite. That things are trending in the direction where Rodgers likely would return,\u201d Steelers beat writer Ray Fittipaldo said Friday on 93.7 The Fan<\/a>. \u201cNow, that\u2019s not gonna be 100 percent until the Steelers hear that from Aaron Rodgers himself. But there\u2019s been a line of communication there between Mike McCarthy and Aaron, since Mike took the job. I have not heard that he is leaning in the other direction. You would think, with free agency starting in mid-March, that the Steelers would want an answer, say by March 12th, March 15th.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve me. One way or another, the Steelers are gonna know by mid-March what\u2019s going on. I can guarantee you the Steelers will know for sure, by mid-March.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Steelers do get a decision by mid-March, that would be terrific. Although they still seem to believe Rodgers is their best option for 2026, they really can\u2019t afford to wait multiple months again. If they wait until say May, they obviously run the risk of him retiring. They do have Will Howard on the roster and could add a quarterback through draft of free agency anyway. But it\u2019s still a risk of a wrench being thrown into their plans.<\/p>\n

Mid-March is especially important, as that coincides with the start of free agency. On March 9, teams are allowed to start talking with pending free agents. Once the new league year begins on March 11, those players are allowed to sign contracts. If Aaron Rodgers gives the Steelers a decision by then, it obviously would help them navigate free agency with more clarity. While they might not be eyeing any free agent quarterbacks that closely, they\u2019ll be late to the game if Rodgers retires after that process begins.<\/p>\n

If Rodgers does retire, or signs with another team, the Steelers would still have some options this offseason. But they aren\u2019t much more inspiring. Malik Willis has a ton of potential but also just six NFL starts. Being the only standout quarterback on the market, he could get expensive<\/a>. And trading for Tua Tagovailoa or Kyler Murray probably isn\u2019t going to get the Steelers over the hump either.<\/p>\n

The Steelers seem prepared to move forward with Rodgers. But they\u2019re also ready for life after him, according to Mike McCarthy<\/a>. McCarthy understands Rodgers better than nearly anyone else. He seems ready to give the veteran quarterback some time to make a decision.<\/p>\n

However, the Steelers can\u2019t exactly afford to wait until minicamp again, as much as they might be ready to run it back with Aaron Rodgers. Fortunately, according to Ray Fittipaldo, it doesn\u2019t seem like they\u2019ll have to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to Aaron Rodgers, it\u2019s always been hard for the Pittsburgh Steelers, or anyone else, to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[8740,1586,7,7866,7827],"class_list":{"0":"post-766989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-93-7-the-fan","9":"tag-aaron-rodgers","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-mike-mccarthy","12":"tag-ray-fittipaldo"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116109218010565747","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}