Aaron Rodgers is waiting for his ‘personal issues’ to be resolved before signing with the Steelers, an insider believes.
Rodgers, who has admitted to meeting with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin this offseason, previously said on the Pat McAfee Show that people in his life were ‘battling difficult stuff.’
However, Rodgers biographer Ian O’Connor thinks those issues will be resolved by the end of the month, and that the quarterback does not want to join the team before he is fully ready to practice.
‘I just think verbally, behind the scenes, not that he guaranteed it, but he’s told [the Steelers], ‘Listen, I’m gonna play for you. I just don’t want to go there and then miss part of mandatory minicamp because of my personal issues,” O’Connor said on 93.7 The Fan, via Sports Illustrated.
”I’m pretty sure they’re gonna be solved by the end of May, at least in my satisfaction where I can give you my all.’ So that’s where I think it is.’
O’Connor added that he believed he had a ‘sense’ of what Rodgers was working through, but would not divulge what it is.
Aaron Rodgers has yet to sign with a team after being cut by the Jets this offseason
Rodgers admitted to meeting with Mike Tomlin but said there is ‘no deadline’ to make a decision
Nonetheless, he was confident that it wasn’t something that would prevent the four-time MVP from suiting up.
‘If I had $100 to put down, my feeling is he’ll be in uniform June 10 for the start of the mandatory minicamp,’ said O’Connor, who authored the book ‘Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers.’
‘I don’t know about OTAs [on May 27]. … I think that word ‘mandatory,’ after what he went through last year when he missed two practices to be checking out the pyramids in Egypt, he took so much grief for that that I think he will honor that. And my suspicion is that Mike Tomlin has given a verbal sign-off to that already.’
Rodgers earned criticism from some last spring when he missed two days of mandatory Jets minicamp for a pre-planned trip to Egypt.
The quarterback earned a $50,000 fine for the absence, which then-coach Robert Saleh deemed ‘unexcused’ before insisting they were on ‘exact same page.’
Rodgers has been non-committal this offseason when asked about his future in football, saying he had ‘no deadline’ on making a decision.
Rodgers played just 18 games with the Jets due to his Achilles injury in Week 1 of 2023
‘I’m in a different phase of my life, I’m 41 years old, I’m in a serious relationship, I have personal commitments I’ve made… and people in my inner circle battling difficult stuff,’ he told McAfee.
If Rodgers does end up in Pittsburgh – a team he’s been heavily linked with this offseason – O’Connor thinks it will be the ‘perfect’ place’ for the 41-year-old to play out the end of his career.
For now, though, quarterback Mason Rudolph is atop the team’s depth chart, and some are pessimistic about the team’s outlook for 2025.
After next season’s schedule was released last Wednesday, ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky predicted Pittsburgh would lose their first six games of the season.
‘I think you’re staring at 0-6 in the face,’ Orlovsky stated.
