It seems improbable the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t know Aaron Rodgers’ future by September. Of course, it seemed unlikely in March the Rodgers saga would be ongoing by the end of May. As the team begins OTA practices without Rodgers, ESPN’s Adam Schefter believes the Steelers will keep on waiting all the way through the summer.
“It’s May 27th, and their first game is not until September 7th when they play the New York Jets,” Schefter said on ESPN’s Get Up Tuesday morning. “So I would say they’re willing to wait until September 7th.”
His comment might be more hyperbolic and Schefter, like every other normally clued-in insider, hasn’t had strong reporting on Rodgers’ future. Known for keeping a tight circle, few on the outside have any clear idea of when Rodgers will make his decision. Speculation shifted from early in free agency to shortly after his visit to the Steelers’ facility to before the draft to the start of offseason practices.
Publicly, Mike Tomlin hasn’t indicated there will be a deadline for Rodgers to arrive. Only owner Art Rooney II has exerted the mildest form of pressure, indicating the team won’t wait “forever,” but it’s a line he’s repeated throughout the offseason and one that’s begun to ring hollow. Rodgers is the best quarterback available and the Steelers’ pursuit of ending their postseason victory drought seems to be enough motivation to wait longer than anyone anticipated.
The little reliable reporting that does exist related to Rodgers and the Steelers indicates the two sides remain in communication. And during a recent question-and-answer session at a concert, Rodgers hinted at signing with Pittsburgh. That’ll buoy the team’s confidence to wait out the process and accept Rodgers missing the start of OTAs, even if it should raise a red flag for the franchise.
While Schefter offered the September “deadline,” his belief is a Rodgers answer will come sooner than that.
“I think we could hear something in the next couple of weeks about him coming back to Pittsburgh,” he said.
There’s already a growing surge of angst over waiting this long. If Rodgers doesn’t arrive by mandatory minicamp, that feeling will intensify. Pittsburgh can allow Rodgers to wait as long as he wants but if the storyline doesn’t have a resolution by training camp in July, much less September, the organization will feel the heat for how it has handled the situation.
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