We are rapidly approaching a full three months since the start of the Aaron Rodgers saga with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mercifully, it may finally be coming to an end sooner than you may think.
According to Adam Schefter via ESPN Milwaukee, Rodgers could sign with the Steelers in the next week or so.
“My guess is he’s gonna wind up going there,” Schefter said in a clip posted by ESPN Milwaukee on X. “I think that we’ve heard Art Rooney [II], the team owner, say he expects Aaron Rodgers to sign there, and they have a mandatory minicamp June 10th to the 12th. So I would think that Rodgers is on the table here in the next week or so.”
Schefter left himself a bit of wiggle room with the way he phrased it, but signing within the next week would mean Rodgers is on the roster for some or all of voluntary OTAs. The first session will begin next Tuesday on May 27. Those are of course voluntary, and Rodgers could still decide to not go, but that timing wouldn’t make a ton of sense.
Voluntary or not, Rodgers would go from signing to immediately getting criticized for not showing up to team events. It would make much more sense for him to sign on June 6, the day after voluntary OTAs wrap up and just a few days before the start of mandatory minicamp.
There have been many analysts talking about how Rodgers has never been much of an offseason guy, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Other than his last two years in Green Bay with contract-related holdouts and last year’s Egypt trip during minicamp with the Jets, he has had nearly perfect attendance during his 20-year career. He even attended voluntary stuff with the Jets last year before missing the mandatory portion for his trip.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Rodgers ends up signing prior to the start of voluntary OTAs, either by the end of this week or next week on Monday, and shows up for all six sessions.
Rooney stated during the draft that it was his preference for Rodgers to show up for some of the offseason activities if his plan is to play for the team.
“If he’s coming, [we] would like to get him here soon for some of that,” Rooney said via Steelers Nation Radio in April.
According to Ian O’Connor, who wrote a biography about Rodgers, the off-field matters that Rodgers has been dealing with should be close to being resolved.
Rodgers has recently been spotted at a concert, and he just had a lengthy podcast interview that posted earlier today. He was also spotted at the Kentucky Derby earlier this month. That is a busy schedule of activities if he does indeed have other personal things to be focused on.
The Steelers may have a new QB1 in town, and sooner than you may think.
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