In Aaron Rodgers’ only media appearance of the offseason so far, he cited significant happenings behind the scenes in his inner circle as the main reason he can’t make the commitment to any NFL team yet. He even kept open the possibility of retiring and made it clear that he would not be working on anybody’s timeline other than his own.
While his circle of trust is very small and virtually soundproof to the prying ears of the media, there is one person who might have a pretty good idea of what is going on.
Sportswriter Ian O’Connor has written several legendary sportsbooks throughout his career, and his latest publication was in 2024 titled Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers. He interviewed 250 people that know Rodgers and found out as much as he possibly could about the mercurial sports figure.
“I’m not doing consistent day-to-day reporting on his life that I did when I talked to 250 people in doing that book, but I have occasionally reached out,” O’Connor said via 93.7 The Fan’s PM Team this afternoon. “The sense I got was, I think I have a pretty good sense of what it is, and I don’t think it’s something that would prevent him from playing football.”
O’Connor went on to say that Rodgers re-established contact with his family, whom he has been famously estranged from for a number of years now. Between that, and the mysterious ring that appeared to be on his ring finger at the Kentucky Derby at the beginning of this month, there are a number of possibilities for what this personal matter actually is.
“Talking to a couple other people close to Aaron, I think I have a sense of what it might be,” O’Connor said. “I’m not comfortable repeating it right now, but I don’t think it would prevent him from playing football with the Steelers.”
If it seems likely that he will play football again, and the Steelers are his only real option, what does the timeline look like?
According to O’Connor, Rodgers probably doesn’t want to repeat the amount of heat and unnecessary flak he caught last year for his pre-planned trip to Egypt which forced him to miss the mandatory minicamp.
“I just think verbally, behind the scenes, not that he guaranteed it, but he’s told them, ‘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. 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 he is,” O’Connor said.
Most of the Steelers beat reporters have assigned values like 90 percent or even 99.9 percent for the chances of Rodgers ultimately signing with the team. It has seemed like a sure thing for a while now. Especially once the Steelers passed on drafting a quarterback until the sixth round of the draft last month.
Even team president Art Rooney II, who doesn’t typically comment on players not under contract with the team, expressed confidence as recently as the draft that Rodgers would eventually sign. He also stated they should “get word soon”.
The deal seems imminent, and whatever the personal issues were behind the scenes should be close to resolved, if they are not already. The last thing to figure out is whether he will be reporting for voluntary OTAs on May 27 or if he will wait until mandatory minicamp on June 10.
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