Aaron Rodgers was spotted in the Pittsburgh area on Friday night getting ice cream with several of his teammates at a local shop. You could say the 42-year-old quarterback was quietly celebrating the start of his 22nd NFL season overall, his second with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and a reunion with his former head coach, Mike McCarthy. And now that the signing is finally official, Rodgers already seems back on duty while making his commitment to the franchise crystal clear.

Per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, Rodgers arrived at the Steelers’ facility early Monday morning. The quarterback was reportedly one of the first players inside the building before 7 a.m., briefly left with a staffer for around 45 minutes, and then returned around 7:45. All that happened with Pittsburgh officially scheduled to begin OTAs on Monday at 11 a.m.

The update surfaced only days after Rodgers finally signed his one-year contract, following months of delays, multiple missed soft deadlines, and growing uncertainty about his future. Ironically enough, it also arrived only weeks after Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that OTAs had become the likely target date for Rodgers to sign officially.

Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Rodgers’ one-year contract could carry a base salary between $22 million and $23 million, with incentives potentially pushing the overall value close to $25 million, which is much higher than his last year’s $13.65 million deal.

At the same time, Rodgers now becomes the first Steelers quarterback to start back-to-back Week 1 games since Ben Roethlisberger did it during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Following Roethlisberger’s retirement, the Steelers had quarterback uncertainty as they started with Mitchell Trubisky in 2022, Kenny Pickett in 2023, and Justin Fields in 2024, with Rodgers getting the nod last season.

More importantly, though, his arrival for OTAs essentially shuts down months of speculation that he could still sign elsewhere. Even while waiting on Rodgers’ decision, Pittsburgh clearly remained committed to bringing him back. In fact, the organization even placed an unrestricted free-agent tender on Rodgers to prevent another team from swooping in late during the offseason.

Now Rodgers officially takes back control of the Steelers’ quarterback room after finishing last season completing 65.7% of his passes, his best completion percentage since 2021, while throwing for 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns, and only seven interceptions.

The playoff ending, however, looked much uglier. Against the Houston Texans in the Wild-Card round, Rodgers completed only 51.5% of his passes as Pittsburgh’s offense completely stalled during a 30-6 loss. At the time, many around the league assumed the four-time MVP would seriously consider retirement rather than return for another season.

Rodgers, though, refused to make any rushed emotional decision about his future.

“I’m not going to make any emotional decisions,” he said about his future after the Texans defeated 30-6 in the Wild-Card round. “I’m disappointed. Obviously, it was such a fun year. A lot of adversity but a lot of fun. Been a great year, overall in my life, the last year, and this is a really good part of that, coming here and being part of this team, so it’s disappointing to be sitting here with the season over.”

From there, Pittsburgh’s front office continued waiting. General manager Omar Khan and owner Art Rooney II both set multiple expected timelines for Rodgers to make a decision, only for the quarterback to keep delaying things throughout the offseason.

But now, after months of uncertainty, Rodgers has officially committed to the 2026 season and is expected to lead Pittsburgh into its Week 1 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons. And with Rodgers finally on board, the quarterback has also fulfilled one of Mike McCarthy’s biggest offseason hopes.

Mike McCarthy gets what he wanted for months

After the second day of rookie minicamp, head coach Mike McCarthy admitted that working with three quarterbacks has usually been standard for his coaching style, but having four would be “awesome.” At the time, the Steelers had Mason Rudolph, second-year quarterback Will Howard, and rookie Drew Allar inside the quarterback room.

Now, with Aaron Rodgers officially returning for his second season in Pittsburgh, the Steelers are suddenly heading into the offseason program carrying four quarterbacks on the depth chart, exactly the scenario McCarthy had hinted he would prefer. Whether that setup actually lasts into the 2026 regular season, however, remains completely up in the air.

At the same time, though, there is another interesting layer to the situation. According to Elias Sports Bureau, a McCarthy-led team has never entered a season opener carrying four quarterbacks on the active roster. Across 18 seasons as an NFL head coach, 10 of McCarthy’s teams opened the year with only three quarterbacks.

What the Steelers eventually decide to do ahead of their Week 1 matchup against the Falcons will reveal itself soon enough. For now, though, Pittsburgh has finally solved one of its biggest offseason dilemmas following Rodgers’ signing.