{"id":17535,"date":"2025-08-24T13:30:41","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T13:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=17535"},"modified":"2025-08-24T13:30:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T13:30:41","slug":"steelers-aaron-rodgers-not-ruling-out-running-it-back-with-pittsburgh-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=17535","title":{"rendered":"Steelers&#8217; Aaron Rodgers not ruling out &#8216;running it back&#8217; with Pittsburgh in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<p>While he has acknowledged that\u00a0<span class=\"link\">this may very well be his last ride<\/span>, Aaron Rodgers has not ruled out playing beyond the 2025 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rodgers, 41, offered a glimpse into his thinking regarding his future in the NFL when Steelers teammate DK Metcalf was recently asked about what people can expect out of Pittsburgh&#8217;s team in 2025. Metcalf and Rodgers were part of a busy offseason for the Steelers that also included the acquisitions of fellow Pro Bowlers Jalen Ramsey and\u00a0 Darius Slay along with promising rookies such as first-round pick Derrick Harmon, running back Kaleb Johnson, defensive tackle Yahya Black and outside linebacker Jack Sawyer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think we&#8217;re gonna do some special things this year. Looking forward to it,&#8221; Metcalf said on teammate Cam Heyward&#8217;s podcast before smiling and turning in Rodgers&#8217; direction. &#8220;And you know, maybe we can run it back.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Maybe,&#8221; a smiling Rodgers said in response.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Given that back and forth, it&#8217;s clear Metcalf has already begun lobbying Rodgers to play beyond the 2025 season. And, based on Rodgers&#8217; response to Metcalf&#8217;s comment, it&#8217;s clear he is keeping an open mind when it comes to his future in Pittsburgh. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Derrick Harmon injury: Steelers first-round pick expected to miss a month after injuring knee, per report<\/p>\n<p>\n                    Cody Nagel                <\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Rodgers himself has said that he is going into his first season in Pittsburgh with the idea that it could be last of a career that will end up immortalized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Rodgers (<span class=\"link\">who signed a one-year deal with the team<\/span> just before the start of minicamp) has fully embraced every aspect of being a Steeler during his initial months with the team, which included living in a dorm during Pittsburgh&#8217;s month long training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rodgers has specifically embraced being a mentor to his young teammates, especially the ones on the offensive side of the ball. The four-time league MVP shared an example of his leadership and how it was quickly embraced by the Steelers&#8217; offensive line. Rodgers felt compelled to say something to the group after he didn&#8217;t see anyone come to fellow quarterback Skylar Thompson&#8217;s aid after he was knocked to the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I walked out there, like, &#8216;What the hell just happened?'&#8221; he said. &#8220;I told the line, &#8216;Don&#8217;t you ever let that happen again.&#8217; I said, &#8216;We gotta protect each other. You guys are the policemen out there on the field. You&#8217;re the big brothers out there. You protect everybody, from DK to me to whoever&#8217;s in there at quarterback, whoever&#8217;s in their at running back. I don&#8217;t care if it&#8217;s preseason practice, whatever, you gotta protect them.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And the next time something happened, about a week later, what happened? Zach [Frazier] was in there. Pat [Freiermuth] was in there. Mason [McCormick] is in there. And then I saw Troy [Fautanu] going in there, and then Spencer [Anderson], and I was like, &#8216;That&#8217;s what it looks like.&#8217; And I&#8217;m not talking about instigating fights. I&#8217;m just talking about backing your brothers up so they know on the field, don&#8217;t f&#8212; with us. There&#8217;s something powerful to that.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While it&#8217;s still early, it&#8217;s safe to say that Rodgers and the Steelers are off to a ideal start, well enough that Rodgers is keeping an open mind about a possible second season in Pittsburgh.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m having a blast,&#8221; Rodgers said about his initial months as a Steeler while comparing it to his experience with the Packers. &#8220;When you&#8217;re at an organization that has a history of winning, it&#8217;s just a different feel. It&#8217;s a way different feel. &#8230; You just feel that there&#8217;s a way to conduct yourself, to honor the greats that played before you.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While he has acknowledged that\u00a0this may very well be his last ride, Aaron Rodgers has not ruled out playing beyond the 2025 season.\u00a0 Rodgers, 41, offered a glimpse into his thinking regarding his future in the NFL when Steelers teammate DK Metcalf was recently asked about what people can expect out of Pittsburgh&#8217;s team in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[5377,10601,10600,571,2443,6752],"class_list":{"0":"post-17535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-aaron","9":"tag-pittsburgh","10":"tag-rodgers","11":"tag-ruling","12":"tag-running","13":"tag-steelers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}