Aaron Rodgers is getting his Pittsburgh Steelers career off to quite the noble start this year.
After news of Rodgers joining the Steelers broke last week, the veteran quarterback's contract details were released shortly after. Rodgers was set to play for the Steelers on a one-year, $13.65 million deal that has a maximum value of $19.5 million.
It seems like a fairly reasonable contract for the four-time NFL MVP, who suffered a decline during his two-season stint with the New York Jets but could make a comeback in what will likely be his swan song this fall.
A new report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport revealed Rodgers's team-centric priorities after his Steelers signing: the 41-year-old actually took less money than he could have gotten from Pittsburgh.
"The $10 million number made sense," Rapoport said. "The way you do a deal for a guy like Aaron Rodgers is, you're kind of like, 'What would it take for you to play?' That's basically how the Steelers would do it, and there's a really good history of really good veteran, accomplished, decorated quarterbacks in the final let's say one or maybe two years of their career taking less.
"Brady took less, Peyton took less, Elway took less.... It hurt his agent but like you do it so the team can build around you."
"The $10M number makes sense because it allows the Steelers to build the team around him..
Brady took less, Peyton took less, and now Aaron Rodgers takes less" ~ @RapSheet #PMSLive https://t.co/YI0hwRz9D0 pic.twitter.com/4gOnC8ie2d
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 9, 2025
Rapoport's report confirms what *Pro Football Talk'*s Mike Florio said earlier on Monday, when Florio suggested that Rodgers could have gotten more money in his Steelers deal. Rodgers's agent, David Dunn, "pushed him to take more," but Rodgers was apparently satisfied with the roughly $13 million—and would have played for even less, per Florio's sources.
Rodgers follows in the footsteps of several NFL greats with his latest selfless move, including Tom Brady who famously took pay cuts to help his teams navigate their salary caps and construct championship-contending rosters. A numbers breakdown from Business Insider estimated that Brady left between $60 and $100 million on the table back when he played for the New England Patriots.
Patrick Mahomes and a few other young quarterbacks have since hopped on this altruistic trend, with Mahomes arguably reaping the biggest benefits so far given the Kansas City Chiefs' three Super Bowl wins since 2019. Though it's hard to say that the Steelers are legitimate Super Bowl contenders at the moment, it's still great to see a vet like Rodgers put his team first in the twilight years of his NFL career.
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