What Aaron Rodgers Brings to the Steelers In 2026 Now That He’s Officially Returning

The future Hall of Famer is headed back to Pittsburgh on a one-year deal.

Aaron Rodgers is re-signing with the Steelers. | Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

After months of waiting, Aaron Rodgers is finally heading back to the Steelers in 2026.

Rodgers, 42, has agreed to terms with Pittsburgh on a one-year deal, per Adam Schefter, making his return official. According to Schefter, Rodgers’s new contract comes with a base salary between $22 to $23 million and is worth up to $25 million. This is a significant raise from last year, when Rodgers signed a one-year, $13.65 million deal with $10 million in guarantees and up to $19.5 million in incentives.

So what does Rodgers bring to the Steelers as he enters his age-42 season? Here’s a closer look at Rodgers’s performance for Pittsburgh in 2025, and how that might translate into this next season.

What to expect from Aaron Rodgers in 2026

During the 2025 season, Rodgers led the Steelers to 10-7 record and a wild-card playoff berth. Over 16 games, Rodgers completed 65.7% of his passes for 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven picks.

While Rodgers had a solid season statistically, he is of course no longer the quarterback he once was in his prime, when he was a four-time NFL MVP. At this stage of his career, Rodgers has particularly been less willing to throw the football downfield.

In 2025, few quarterbacks attempted more passes less than 10 yards downfield than Rodgers, who according to PFF, saw nearly 68% of his attempts travel within 10 yards. Per PFF, 22.9% of those attempts were behind the line of scrimmage, also one of the highest rates in the league.

According to Next Gen Stats, Rodgers ranked last among qualified quarterbacks in completed air yards per attempt (3.3) and 39th out of 42 quarterbacks in average intended air yards (5.9). For comparison, Lamar Jackson led the league with an average of 7.6 air yards per completion while Marcus Mariota led the league with an average of 10.2 air yards on all attempts. As Jim Nantz noted during the CBS broadcast of Ravens-Steelers in Week 14, the Steelers went the whole month of November without completing a pass that traveled 20 yards or more in the air.

Rodgers still has a strong arm, as evidenced by his Hail Mary attempt during the Steelers’ Thursday Night Football loss to the Bengals and this throw to Roman Wilson against the Packers, but the lack of attempts in the intermediate and deep parts of the field limit the offense and ability to challenge other defenses.

Aaron Rodgers' Hail Mary pass attempt that resulted in an incompletion traveled 69.8 yards in the air, the longest recorded pass attempt since at least 2017.#PITvsCIN | #HereWeGopic.twitter.com/gRxqoJ03ll

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) October 17, 2025

As a partial result, Rodgers ranked 23rd among quarterbacks with at least 100 plays in EPA per play and 35th in success rate. Given Rodgers also ranked low in air yards per completion in 2024 with the Jets, it’d likely take a significant change in approach for this to improve in 2026.

Rodgers also does not handle pressure nearly as well at this stage. According to PFF, his completion percentage dropped to 40.6% in 2025 when under pressure and his passing grade plummeted to 42.5 out of 100. Among quarterbacks with at least 100 plays under pressure, Rodgers ranked 31st out of 31 passers in success rate and 29th in EPA per play.

On the more optimistic side, Rodgers will bring experience and leadership to the Steelers that they do not have in second-year quarterback Will Howard or rookie Drew Allar. He also won’t be dealing with a fractured wrist late in the season, an injury that caused him to miss the Steelers’ loss to the Bears.

The Steelers have also upgraded their supporting cast around Rodgers. They’ve signed running back Rico Dowdle, traded for receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and drafted receiver Germie Bernard in the second round. These pieces will complement No. 1 receiver DK Metcalf and tight end Pat Freiermuth, giving Rodgers a plethora of targets, and perhaps more importantly, preventing them from targeting Marquez Valdes-Scantling in the end zone on three consecutive plays with a trip to the playoffs on the line and Pro Bowl corner Denzel Ward in coverage.

Pittsburgh is also changing its offense after hiring Mike McCarthy, a coach Rodgers spent years with in Green Bay. This familiarity should allow Rodgers to be comfortable heading into what might be his final NFL season.

Even with limitations at this point of his career, it’s possible for Rodgers to lead the Steelers back to the playoffs, especially if the Ravens and Bengals do not rebound in 2026. It’s hard to imagine Rodgers leading the Steelers to their first playoff win in a decade, but it’s certainly not unrealistic to imagine him having a solid season, even if he isn’t great under pressure or relies heavily on the short passing game. The future Hall of Famer certainly deserves to end his career on a better note than the pick-six he threw in last January’s loss to the Texans, a play uncharacteristic of his historic career limiting interceptions.

How have other 42-year-old quarterbacks performed?

By the time the 2026 season starts, Rodgers will be the eighth-oldest quarterback to appear in an NFL game, only trailing George Blanda (48), Tom Brady (45), Steve DeBerg (44), Warren Moon (44), Vinny Testaverde (44), Philip Rivers (44) and Doug Flutie (43).

Of those quarterbacks, only Brady, Testaverde and Rivers saw significant playing time during their final season or two. Brady is the gold standard for quarterback play in his 40s (or at any age), winning MVP at the age of 40, two Super Bowls after turning 40 and leading the league in passing yards (5,316) and touchdowns (43) at the age of 44. In his final season at 45, Brady threw for 4,694 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine picks.

Testaverde and Rivers’s production after turning 40 proved much more modest. In Testaverde’s final season in 2007, he started six games and completed 54.7% of his passes for 952 yards, five touchdowns and six picks as the Panthers went 2-4. Rivers, meanwhile, shocked the NFL by returning to the league five seasons after his initial retirement. He started three games for the Colts—even taking the Super Bowl champs down to the wire—and completed 63% of his passes for 544 yards, four touchdowns and three picks while finishing 44th among quarterbacks with at least 50 snaps in EPA per play and 43rd in success rate. The Colts went 0-3 in those contests.

There is a wide range between the play of Rivers and Testaverde and then Brady. Rodgers is most likely to fall somewhere in the middle. Barring an unexpected injury or quarterback change, Rodgers will get significantly more snaps than Rivers or Testaverde did. He also played a full season of football last year, giving him much more opportunities to find a rhythm and success on the field.

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