SI

Aaron Rodgers Confirmed He Did Drive Sneaky Car to Steelers Meeting

Yes, that was him in the photo.

Brigid Kennedy

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Dec. 15, 2024.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Dec. 15, 2024. / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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When it was revealed that free agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers would be appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, it's safe to say the entire NFL world raised one collective eyebrow: would today, at long last, be the day Rodgers announces his next career move?

Alas, we should have known better.

The 41-year-old quarterback did not use the cameo to announce his next steps nor did he give a strong indication of where he was leaning one way or another. Instead, we came out of the show's 1 p.m. hour none the wiser as to the future Hall of Famer's plans for next season.

What the QB did, however, make clear was that (1) his final meeting with the New York Jets was not a good one, and (2) yes, that was him in the Chevy rental car visiting with the Pittsburgh Steelers roughly a month ago.

As to that last point—Rodgers has been linked to the Steel City since some time in March, and he was rumored to have met with the front office at the team facility at the end of last month. An eager photojournalist even staked out the complex day-of, snapping some pics of a man that looked to be Rodgers leaving in a regular white car.

Well, as the quarterback himself confirmed Thursday, that was indeed him in those photos—and the fact that no one knew for sure was all in keeping with his plan.

In an effort to keep the Pittsburgh visit as low-key as possible, "I flew into a different airport," the QB told McAfee on Thursday. "I got a [Chevy Malibu] rental car. Drove the Malibu rental car to the facility, to the backside practice field. Got let in the practice field."

But "then somebody in the building must have said something, and when I came out there was some cameras that were pointed. But there ain't no way they thought, 'This dude is not going to be in a Malibu right now. He's not going to be in a Malibu rental car, is he?' So I drove by 'em. They had a really long lens. And [Rodgers's sister] Mia did a deep dive to see if anybody got a picture, and there was one person who got a picture, and it didn't go anywhere, of me in the Malibu. But that was fun to kind of sneak in, sneak out."

McAfee later brought out the picture—the one from Ed Thompson—and Rodgers said it was the one he saw, as well.

"Hey, there it is!" he said. "That was me. That was 100% me. That was the exact picture that I saw."

Ok, well at least we cleared that up.

What we are still waiting on, though, is an answer as to whether Rodgers will be signing with Pittsburgh, retiring from football entirely, or choosing another club in free agency. Sigh. The saga continues.

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Brigid Kennedy
BRIGID KENNEDY

Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.

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