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Now that Aaron Rodgers is back, the revisionist history begins
May 18, 2026Mike FlorioPro Football Talk
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With quarterback Aaron Rodgers recommitting to the Steelers for a second season, a new narrative has emerged in some circles of the media. "As it turns out, there was never any question at all." "Which was the plan all along." "That was the plan." "That was the plan all along." Each of those lines come from one-sentence paragraphs in the Sunday item from Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Dulac has covered the Steelers for decades. He's plugged in. He knows the team. And if it was the plan all along that Rodgers would be back, Dulac's source(s) were lying to his face. Two weeks ago, Dulac wrote that the team's " patience could be starting to wear thin” with Rodgers, after he didn't give them an answer before the draft. If "there was never any question" about Rodgers returning, there would have been no reason for the team's patience to ever be tested. Then there's the fact that, three weeks ago, the Steelers applied the unrestricted free agent tender to Rodgers. If "there was never any question" about Rodgers returning, there was never any reason for the Steelers to make a CBA chess move aimed at securing a potential compensatory draft pick for Rodgers if he signed with another team. If "there was never any question" about the outcome, the Steelers never had to be concerned about Rodgers signing with another team. Of course there was a question about whether Rodgers would re-sign. The Steelers thought he'd come back, but they didn't know he was coming back until he did. They didn't even know he was making a sudden and unexpected trip to Pittsburgh 11 days ago. They brushed it off, as one source told us, as "Aaron being Aaron" — and they remained both willing to roll out the Terrible Towel and fully unaware as to what he was going to do. The fact that he chose to sign a one-year deal with the Steelers over the weekend hardly means that it was a fait accompli from the moment the 2025 season ended. If anything, the immediate signs were pointing to Rodgers walking away. In the regular-season finale between the Ravens and Steelers, NBC's Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth seemed to be dropping fairly strong hints that Rodgers was leaning toward calling it quits — something they surely gleaned from whatever Rodgers had said during the production meeting before the game. Ultimately, Rodgers chose to return to the Steelers, even with the guy who attracted him there in the first place (coach Mike Tomlin) gone. Maybe the explanation is as simple as this: Rodgers didn't want his last throw in the NFL to have been a pick-six in a playoff game. Whatever his reason(s) for running it back in Pittsburgh, the fact that Rodgers decided to come back hardly means it was always inevitable. In the end, however, the Steelers (who have no other immediately viable starter) needed Rodgers and Rodgers (who had no other takers in free agency) needed the Steelers. Once Rodgers decided he wanted to keep playing, the passage of time — and the lack of options elsewhere — left him with only one place to play.