Just like he said back in April, Pittsburgh Steelers team president Art Rooney II says the team will wait a ‘little while longer’ for Aaron Rodgers to decide.
“A little while longer. I’ll say the same thing,” Rooney said.
In early April, Rooney said the team would not wait forever on Rodgers, but they would not give him timeline for now. That has continued, as head coach Mike Tomlin said around the same time he never thought deadlines were productive.
“Not to my knowledge,” Tomlin said of a deadline. “I don’t know that we’ve approached it from a deadline perspective. Certainly, as I mentioned, you’d like to have settled circumstances, but deadlines can often bring that to a head.”
Rooney said the meeting with Rodgers at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex went well. They got to know one another more than talk about anything, such as money or hammering out a deal, but the hope is that the effort put in there will allow Rodgers to sign.
On the Pat McAfee Show in April, Rodgers said he would not sign a deal with a team until he felt he could fully commit to them with his personal life in order.
In his latest interview on the Joe Rogan Experience, Rodgers may have just revealed and hinted at the issues he hopes to resolve in his personal life.
Rodgers said multiple people in his life are dealing with serious illnesses, including cancer.
“I’ve figured it out during the last year when I’ve been in the weeds with these people who are close to me that have cancer,” Rodgers said.
That is taking a personal toll on Rodgers, who discussed non-conventional treatment options on the podcast. Still, he offered no certain timetable for a decision and seemed focused on his personal life first before anything else.
OTAs for the Steelers start next Tuesday on May 27, while mandatory minicamp will not occur for another three weeks, starting on June 10.