Aaron Rodgers’ final NFL contest could come Sunday night in a showdown with the Baltimore Ravens. With a playoff spot on the line, however, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback isn’t ready to ponder his future.
Rodgers said Wednesday he’s thought about a potential return in 2026 and will tackle that question whenever his season ends.
"I'm thinking about this week, but obviously I'm 42 years old and I'm on a one-year deal," he said via ESPN. "So you know what the situation is. Whenever the season ends, I'll be a free agent. So that'll give me a lot of options if I still want to play. I mean, not a lot of options, but there'll be options, I would think, maybe one or two, if I decide I still want to play.
"I've enjoyed this experience, and everybody in Pittsburgh has been fantastic to me on and off the field. And it's really what I was hoping for this experience was, it's been even better than I was hoping."
Rodgers said in June that he was “pretty sure” 2025 would be his final season, but kept the option open for changing his mind.
The 42-year-old’s play in 2025 has ebbed and flowed, but even with mid-level play, he’s shown enough ability to lead an offense that he could probably land another job if he wanted to keep playing next season.
Through 15 games, he’s passed for 3,028 yards, 23 touchdowns and seven interceptions. His play has been directly tied to the Steelers' success or failure this season. In Pittsburgh’s nine wins, he’s completed 71.6% of his passes for an average of 212.3 yards per game, 7.4 yards per attempt, a 15-1 TD-INT ratio and a 110.6 passer rating. In the six losses, he’s completed 57.7% of his passes for 186.2 YPG, 5.8 YPA, an 8-6 TD-INT ratio and a 75.0 passer rating.
Rodgers was asked whether he’d played the way he’d hoped entering the season.
"At times, yeah, definitely," Rodgers said. "Anytime you're in a first-year offense, there's always some growing pains within the offense. It's always like, you feel like, if you had another year, what you could do.
"We've done the best we could with our conversations and our meeting time outside the facility and our meeting time in the facility. But obviously the more years you get in the system with the same guys, the more continuity you have, the better you feel like you can play."
If Sunday night’s tussle with Baltimore ends in a loss, there will be big decisions to be made in Pittsburgh. From Mike Tomlin’s future to Rodgers' potential retirement. A victory would push those questions aside for at least one more week.
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