The 2026 NFL season is only four months away, with kickoff scheduled for September. Teams have already begun making moves to strengthen their rosters for the upcoming season. However, the Pittsburgh Steelers face a complication. Their star QB, Aaron Rodgers, has yet to confirm his availability. But amid this uncertainty, Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy has drafted rookie quarterback Drew Allar, raising speculation about Rodgers’ potential return to the team.

In a recent presser, McCarthy was asked whether drafting Allar would change the team’s pursuit of Aaron Rodgers. The Steelers’ head coach responded:

“No, not at all,” as reported by Steelers insider Nick Farabaugh on X.

The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the 2025 regular season with a record of 10–7, finishing first in the AFC North before losing 30–9 to the Houston Texans in the wildcard playoffs round. To bolster their squad for the 2026 season, the team made a few changes, starting with appointing Mike McCarthy as their new head coach.

Under him, changes seemed imminent, especially considering the uncertainty around star QB Aaron Rodgers’ availability for the upcoming season. The Steelers picked Drew Allar in the third round as the 76th overall pick. The team needed a young QB. With top prospects like Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson being drafted in the first round, the Steelers saw Allar as a fit for their long-term plans.

The 22-year-old finished his collegiate career at Penn State (2022–2025). He held multiple school records, including the all-time lead in completion percentage (63.2%) and interception percentage (1.3). Not just that, Allar is the first quarterback in program history to lead the team to a College Football Playoff semifinal (2024) and holds an FBS record for the most passing attempts (311) to start a career without an interception.

The Steelers already had Mason Rudolph and Will Howard in the QB room. Among them, Howard seemed to have impressed McCarthy during the offseason training. Hence, there could be chances for him to lead the team amid the uncertainty around Aaron Rodgers’ return.

The uncertainty surrounding Aaron Rodgers’ return to Pittsburgh is rooted in a combination of contractual, financial, and personal factors that have left the Steelers in a prolonged holding pattern well into the 2026 offseason. 

Despite the Steelers expressing they would be “more than open” to bringing him back for a 22nd NFL season, as of late April 2026, Rodgers has set no deadline for a decision. Rodgers’ camp is reportedly seeking around $30 million per year off his strong 2025 performance.

Crucially, reporting from Adam Schefter indicates that Rodgers’ delay is “not contractual” at its core but rather driven by deeply personal deliberation about whether he wants to commit to another grueling NFL season at age 42.

So, does the drafting of Drew Allar hint at a change of mind in Mike McCarthy? Maybe, maybe not. However, amid these additions, the Steelers and their HC have expressed their interest in continuing to pursue Rodgers to make his return.

Hence, the ball now lies in the 42-year-old veteran QB’s hands. In the 2025 season, Rodgers started 16 games for the Steelers. In those, he passed for 3,322 yards and recorded 24 passing touchdowns. And surely, McCarthy would be keen to take the services of an experienced campaigner like him for his debut season with the Steelers as head coach.

But what actually prompted McCarthy to pick Allar when a prospect like Howard was already in the Steelers’ QB room?

Mike McCarthy reveals intention behind drafting Drew Allar

In the NFL, it is relatively rare for teams to draft quarterbacks in consecutive years. But there have been a few instances when they do make that call. One example is the Arizona Cardinals, who selected quarterback Josh Rosen in 2018. After a challenging season in which the Cardinals finished with a 3-13 record, they traded Rosen and chose another quarterback, Kyler Murray, in 2019.

However, for Mike McCarthy and the Pittsburgh Steelers, the reason seems quite different. In 2025, the Steelers drafted Will Howard as the 185th overall pick. This year, they selected Drew Allar as their 76th overall pick. For head coach McCarthy, this strategy provides the flexibility he desires in building the team’s roster.

“I will coach the heck out of that room,” said McCarthy. “I have a lot of confidence, and I have history and experience that I will give everything I can to any quarterback in that room. We want to grow the quarterback room. We don’t want to just rely on one quarterback.”

McCarthy has been a head coach for 20 years now. Before joining the Steelers, he led the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. So, he comes in with a wealth of experience and believes Allar is a promising talent.

“I think, like anything, I believe in first impressions,” said McCarthy in a presser. “I’ve had a chance to watch him play, meet him at the combine. I liked everything about him. I think he’s young, I think he’s got a lot of room for growth, and he’s a young man who can throw the ball with the best of them. And that’s a great starting point to have.”

In terms of a packed QB room, the Steelers and McCarthy have it. But it remains uncertain who will be the starter for the 2026 season. If Aaron Rodgers decides to return, the head coach appears interested in working with him while also developing the young quarterbacks, Howard and Allar, further, before rushing them to the marquee position.