NFL insider Adam Schefter says it is fair to wonder if Aaron Rodgers will retire if he does sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers by mandatory minicamp.
Rodgers, who has remained in constant communication with the Steelers, still has not decided as he works through personal issues. However, his biographer, Ian O’Connor, believes that Rodgers will ink a deal sooner rather than later.
O’Connor notes that Rodgers was irked he took heat last year for missing mandatory minicamp with the New York Jets for a pre-planned trip to Egypt. If he has something similar this year, he might not want to ink his deal until after the spring calendar.
That could prevent Rodgers from signing during this period, but Schefter says if he has not inked a deal by mandatory minicamp, he questions if he will sign.
“It’s hard for me to imagine that if he does intend to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers he skips mandatory minicamp in June,” Schefter said. “I think everybody could agree if you’re gonna be stepping into a new situation, it would be ideal to be there now, but it would certainly be ideal to be there for mandatory minicamp. It’s June 10th through June 12th, I think at that point it’s fair to wonder if he’s going to play.”
Rodgers’ issues are in his inner circle, and he said he was upfront with the Steelers and other teams pursuing him and would not ink a deal until he felt he could fully commit to that team.
If it is not by mandatory minicamp, things are much murkier for the Steelers. Certainly, the team seemingly would wait until training camp for him, but they would have to explore other options if they could not land Rodgers.