{"id":793543,"date":"2026-03-05T10:56:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/793543\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T10:56:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:56:31","slug":"aaron-rodgers-drops-major-hint-on-his-nfl-future-as-he-contemplates-returning-to-the-steelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/793543\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Rodgers drops major hint on his NFL future as he contemplates returning to the Steelers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">With <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/aaron-rodgers\/index.html\" id=\"mol-45c4b1f0-1843-11f1-a986-fd029d9a1228\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Aaron Rodgers<\/a> expected to decide his NFL future sometime this month, the free-agent quarterback is giving <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/pittsburgh-steelers\/index.html\" id=\"mol-45c415b0-1843-11f1-a986-fd029d9a1228\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> fans reason for optimism about a possible return to the Steel City.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Asked about newly hired Steelers coach Mike McCarthy, who Rodgers played for in Green Bay, the 42-year-old spoke glowingly, while stopping short of promising a return.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I&#8217;m really happy for [McCarthy],&#8217; Rodgers said during <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"class\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/nfl\/article-15614955\/aaron-rodgers-stalker-fans-wife-identity.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wednesday&#8217;s episode of the Pat McAfee Show<\/a>. &#8216;We&#8217;ve had good conversations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;He&#8217;s one of the great guys in the league\u2026 Deep down there&#8217;s so much love and appreciation for the time we spent together.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">As far as his season in Pittsburgh, Rodgers said he &#8216;had a blast,&#8217; which is another good sign for Steelers fans hoping to put off the search for a new quarterback another year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">ESPN&#8217;s Adam Schefter previously reported Rodgers is expected to make a decision about a potential return this month, but the quarterback said Wednesday there is no deadline for him to figure out his future.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-f1a60fb23d55471c\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/106874399-15614983-The_quarterback_stunned_fans_when_he_unveiled_a_wedding_band_on_-a-2_177268123375.jpeg\" height=\"457\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Aaron Rodgers' future in Pittsburgh remains undecided after the team's playoff exit\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Aaron Rodgers&#8217; future in Pittsburgh remains undecided after the team&#8217;s playoff exit\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-6eeb3eb9736f798f\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/106883839-15614983-image-a-12_1772681659390.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"The Pittsburgh Steelers did bring in head coach Mike McCarthy (right), who won a Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers (left) during their time together with the Green Bay Packers\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The Pittsburgh Steelers did bring in head coach Mike McCarthy (right), who won a Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers (left) during their time together with the Green Bay Packers<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Free agency starts in a week,&#8217; Rodgers told McAfee about his current situation. &#8216;I&#8217;ve talked to Mike,I&#8217;ve talked to [Steelers general manager] Omar [Khan]. There&#8217;s been no deadline that&#8217;s been put in front of me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;There&#8217;s no contract offer or anything,&#8217; he continued. &#8216;So there&#8217;s nothing I&#8217;m having to debate between. I&#8217;m a free agent. Again, I&#8217;m enjoying my time with my wife and enjoying this part of the offseason. I think there&#8217;s conversations to be had down the line.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Rodgers&#8217; mention of his new wife was as close as he came to speaking about her. Instead, he expressed his frustration with the frenzy over his wife&#8217;s identity, having kept it private since announcing he was married in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;The obsession is f***ing bizarre, that&#8217;s the only way to put it,&#8217; he said. &#8216;The obsession is really bizarre. You guys know, you laughed about this many times, you showed pictures of it&#8230; we&#8217;re not living at the beach anymore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Part of it is, I have legitimate stalkers. I don&#8217;t say that lightly or flippantly, I&#8217;ve been getting stalked at my house for a year and a half, stalked at the coffee shop, at the gym at Pro Active. The paparazzi was flying drones over my house, I&#8217;ve learned that it&#8217;s had a bounty on getting a picture of my wife, which I think is very bizarre as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I understand the attention that comes with somebody that&#8217;s accomplished what I&#8217;ve accomplished, so in no way am I making this a &#8216;woe is me&#8217;. But when it comes to your personal safety, it&#8217;s not just me&#8230; it&#8217;s me and her, and it&#8217;s really f***ing bizarre.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-1f7f752d4ae9f5d\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/106874155-15614983-Aaron_Rodgers_has_fumed_over_obsessed_fans_who_are_trying_to_ide-a-1_177268122907.jpeg\" height=\"325\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Aaron Rodgers has fumed over 'obsessed' fans who are trying to identify his mystery wife\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Aaron Rodgers has fumed over &#8216;obsessed&#8217; fans who are trying to identify his mystery wife<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Rodgers and Pittsburgh were eliminated from the playoffs in the AFC Wild Card round by a 30-6 defeat to the Texans, leaving the signal caller weighing up retirement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Many would expect Rodgers to be heading back to the Steelers after leading them to a 10-7 regular season record, where he threw for 3,322 yards and 24 touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">However, Schefter recently revealed there is another team waiting in the wings: The Minnesota Vikings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I don&#8217;t know how Aaron Rodgers feels and I don&#8217;t know how the Vikings feel,&#8217; Schefter said on his podcast. &#8216;They didn&#8217;t want to do that last year because they were being protective of [rookie quarterback] JJ McCarthy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;But, do they still feel the same way or is Aaron Rodgers part of the conversation?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Arguably, Minnesota has a better offense than Pittsburgh &#8211; with wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison serving as useful assets to any starting quarterback.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">However, the Steelers&#8217; hopes of Rodgers returning were boosted by the hiring of McCarthy to replace the outgoing Mike Tomlin as head coach. Rodgers is believed to have been a big fan of Tomlin, but the appointment of McCarthy could be enough to lure him back to Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">McCarthy is obviously familiar with his game. The 62-year-old Pittsburgh native started Rodgers for 172 regular and postseason games during their 11 years together in Green Bay, winning the Packers&#8217; fourth Super Bowl title along the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Aaron Rodgers expected to decide his NFL future sometime this month, the free-agent quarterback is giving Pittsburgh&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,3225,7,345,6,520,57,2360,817,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-793543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-green-bay-packers","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","15":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","16":"tag-sport","17":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116176211549601645","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793543","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=793543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}