The Pittsburgh Steelers received encouraging news this week when reports surfaced that Aaron Rodgers is currently in Pittsburgh. But whether that development signals growing optimism around Rodgers eventually signing or simply adds more confusion to the situation is still up for debate. For starters, no deal has been finalized yet. And now, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has added another layer to the ongoing Rodgers-Steelers saga.

“SOURCES: Aaron Rodgers has been in town for a couple days, but the Steelers have not met with him yet and instead have been talking with his agent. Rodgers has stayed away from the team’s South Side facility while the three-day rookie minicamp has been going on,” Dulac wrote on X.

Right now, the Steelers are in the middle of their three-day rookie minicamp. And as OTAs get closer, Pittsburgh currently has Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, and rookie Drew Allar in the quarterback room. Rodgers could eventually become the fourth name on that list. But at the moment, the Steelers still do not appear to have a clear answer on where things stand.

Dulac’s report about Rodgers remaining away from the facility while his agent, David Dunn, handles conversations also came shortly after Steelers general manager Omar Khan admitted he was unsure about Rodgers’ whereabouts.

“I don’t know where specifically Aaron is,” Khan said this week. “I can tell you that Aaron and I, and Coach [Mike McCarthy] and Aaron and Aaron’s representatives, we’ve had some good conversations since the season ended and since Mike got hired. It’s been positive. I don’t know where he is at this moment. We continue to have conversations and they’re positive. We had a good experience with him last year and I think he would probably echo the same thing. Conversations continue.”

Khan’s comments do not necessarily suggest Rodgers is leaning toward signing or walking away from Pittsburgh. But they do reinforce one thing: months into the offseason, Rodgers remains unsigned, and the Steelers are still waiting.

And from the team’s perspective, this uncertainty has dragged on for a while now. Earlier in the offseason, Khan insisted this would not turn into a repeat of last year, when Rodgers signed his one-year deal in June 2025. Then Art Rooney II said he expected clarity before the draft. Neither of those timelines materialized.

Fast forward, and Dulac has previously suggested the next meaningful checkpoint could be OTAs. With Pittsburgh scheduled to begin OTAs on May 18, the obvious question becomes whether Rodgers finally signs before the offseason program officially starts.

There still appears to be optimism inside the organization, especially now that Rodgers’ agent is in contact with Pittsburgh. But what Rodgers is actually thinking right now is something only the four-time MVP truly knows. Until then, Khan, Rooney, and Mike McCarthy continue waiting on Rodgers, much like the rest of the Steelers fan base. And if you ask McCarthy, his stance on the situation has remained exactly the same.

Mike McCarthy wants to expand the quarterback room

Before the 2026 NFL Draft, Mike McCarthy made it clear that he wanted four quarterbacks on the roster. At the time, the Steelers only had Mason Rudolph and Will Howard under contract. During the draft, Pittsburgh added Drew Allar, expanding the quarterback room to three.

Still, McCarthy’s goal was not fully met, which is exactly why he recently reiterated his stance when asked about potentially adding Aaron Rodgers before OTAs

“I mean, three quarterbacks is the normal, four would be awesome.”

For months now, McCarthy has been viewed as the main connection between Rodgers and the Steelers. But the way the head coach continues talking about the quarterback room, especially his repeated emphasis on wanting four quarterbacks, almost suggests he does not have a clear answer on Rodgers’ return either.

If anything, McCarthy’s tone makes it feel like Rodgers joining the team is still more of a possibility than an expectation. That is where Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk stepped in with his own theory.

“Does coach Mike McCarthy really want him back? Does he truly want to reunite with Aaron Rodgers?” Florio wondered. “Do some research about the final years of their time together in Green Bay, and consider this: Aaron Rodgers isn’t the player he was the last time he worked with Mike McCarthy. So the player not as good, personality just as strong, opinions just as forceful, and they are gonna reunite. Mike McCarthy is saying all the right things while hoping that at the end of the day, Aaron Rodgers decides to move on.”

Rodgers spent the majority of his Hall of Fame-caliber career playing under McCarthy with the Green Bay Packers, where he won his first two MVP awards and captured his only Super Bowl title. The success between the two was undeniable.

But toward the end of McCarthy’s tenure in Green Bay, the relationship between head coach and quarterback reportedly deteriorated badly. Reports at the time described the situation as “toxic,” while Rodgers was said to have questioned McCarthy’s football IQ behind the scenes.

The tension eventually spilled onto the field, as the Packers stumbled to a disappointing 6-9-1 finish in 2018. Eventually, that also became McCarthy’s final season with the franchise.

Fast forward to now, and the possibility of a reunion is suddenly back on the table again. The only problem is whether this reunion actually becomes reality still seems to depend entirely on Rodgers himself.