{"id":853563,"date":"2026-04-04T16:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/853563\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T16:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:54:17","slug":"the-comment-art-rooney-ii-made-about-aaron-rodgers-everyone-overlooked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/853563\/","title":{"rendered":"The Comment Art Rooney II Made About Aaron Rodgers Everyone Overlooked"},"content":{"rendered":"

The headlines read: Art Rooney II expects an Aaron Rodgers decision before the draft. That\u2019s what the national media focused on, what the local pundits discussed and debated, and was our takeaway, too<\/a>. That timeline, if not a deadline, is notable and certainly worth the attention it\u2019s received.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another comment that offers a window into why Rooney expects an answer in weeks\u2019 time, and the only specific piece of information we have so far about what Rodgers has told the team.<\/p>\n

It came tucked underneath Rooney\u2019s initial comments. The PPG\u2019s Gerry Dulac was the first to write<\/a> about Rooney\u2019s draft expectation, sharing that as the first quote in his article last Sunday. But Rooney\u2019s next comment was just as interesting \u2013 if not more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I talked to him, and Omar [Khan] talked to him, he told us he wasn\u2019t going to take as long this year as he did last year [to make a decision],\u201d Rooney told Dulac. \u201cI\u2019m not 100% sure what that means, but I expect something before the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unless I missed it, lost in the endless coverage that\u2019s become Rodgers\u2019 yearly will-he-won\u2019t-he decisions, that is the only piece of information revealed by either side, Rodgers or the team, detailing the nature of their conversations. Unless McCarthy\u2019s off-hand comment of Rodgers skiing this winter counts (it doesn\u2019t).<\/p>\n

During his interview with Pat McAfee, Rodgers didn\u2019t disclose specifics of his talks with Pittsburgh. Other than the fact that no contract had been offered,<\/a> something to be expected given that Rodgers hasn\u2019t decided his future. Omar Khan and McCarthy would only note that the two sides were in regular communication, and Rooney\u2019s other media interviews didn\u2019t disclose any details about communication to and from Rodgers.<\/p>\n

By no means is this comment a smoking gun. But this is all we have. Rodgers told the team he would not take as long as 2025. Last year, it took until June 6th<\/a> for Rodgers to officially sign his contract with the news reported a few days earlier.<\/p>\n

Rooney, even in admitting he didn\u2019t know exactly what Rodgers\u2019 comments meant, interpreted them as referring to before the draft. Or, at least, is using that information to apply a little public pressure on Rodgers to decide and resolve the situation before Pittsburgh hosts the NFL\u2019s main offseason event.<\/a> But Rodgers\u2019 comment, taken as Rooney told it, could mean that Rodgers decides after\u00a0the draft and still be true to his word. He could decide in, say, mid-May, which would technically be earlier than 2025\u2019s timeline.<\/p>\n

Rodgers is a tiresome story. Writing about it here only adds to the fatigue. But this is the only thing we *know* the two sides have discussed. This comment from Rooney got lost in the shuffle. It\u2019s one worth mentioning, as the only data point we have. Probably the only one we get until there\u2019s an answer. Rodgers keeps a tight circle with few leaks, and the Steelers are often just as tight-lipped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The headlines read: Art Rooney II expects an Aaron Rodgers decision before the draft. That\u2019s what the national…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[1586,4393,7,6600,57,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-853563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-art-rooney-ii","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-gerry-dulac","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116347487861548563","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853563","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=853563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}