At the NFL’s Annual Meeting in Phoenix, the Pittsburgh Steelers president and owner Art Rooney II told reporters flat out that he expected veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers to sign before the draft. He even revealed he’d spoken to Rodgers directly.

“When I talked to him and [GM] Omar [Khan] talked to him, he told us he wasn’t going to take as long this year as he did last year,” Rooney had said. “I’m not 100 percent sure what that means, but I expect something before the draft.”

But the draft opens on April 23rd in Pittsburgh; the Steelers are still grasping at straws, and Rooney just reversed his course.

“I don’t know if it’ll be before the draft,” Rooney said, per CBS Pittsburgh’s Bom Pompeani. “I think it’ll be soon. Can’t put an exact day on it or anything like that. But yeah, I think it’ll happen soon. One way or the other.”

In just three weeks, the Steelers lost all control over their own timeline.

Rodgers ran the same play last year. He didn’t arrive in Pittsburgh until June 7, signed just before the mandatory minicamp, and the Steelers treated the whole circus as acceptable. A-Rod finished the year with 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns, and seven picks, and Pittsburgh won the division over the Baltimore Ravens. So, the Steelers came back for another round and faced the uncertainty from last season.

Meanwhile, the Steelers opened their voluntary minicamp on April 20th, and Will Howard stepped in as QB1. Howard spent the entirety of last season on the bench after he fractured his hand in August before the preseason games. Still, new head coach Mike McCarthy has already said he was “really excited” to work with Howard during his introductory presser. To add to this, offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio offered the sharpest praise recently.

“I really enjoy Will,” Angelichio noted on 93.7 The Fan. “He’s got a great personality. He’s been impressive in the quarterback room. Obviously, we haven’t gone out on the grass with him, but his ability to communicate, articulate, and pick up the scheme has been really impressive.”

Howard, the 185th overall pick from last season, spent most of 2025 being mentored by Aaron Rodgers himself. At Ohio State the year before, he completed 73.1% of his passes, posted a 175.3 passer rating, and became the offensive MVP in the national title game. For the Steelers, he’s the quarterback in the building they are counting on, while Rodgers is nowhere to be seen.

This gap between who’s available and who Pittsburgh is still waiting on is exactly what makes the next part of this story damaging.

“He holds them hostage right now.”

NFL columnist and commentator Skip Bayless first used thost words about two weeks ago on The Arena: Gridiron.

“This is a very sad story to me that the Pittsburgh Steelers are being held hostage by Aaron Rodgers, because they did this to themselves,” Bayless said. “Aaron Rodgers is washed. He’s done, and he’s been done since his final year in Green Bay… But the Steelers have no other option. They’re stuck because of what they didn’t do to find a quarterback.”

The debates and speculations kept growing around Rodgers. Free agency came and went with a majority of the teams making splashy moves at quarterback while Pittsburgh stood pat. And NFL sportscaster Peter Schrager went on ESPN’s First Take and outlined exactly who Pittsburgh passed on.

“I think it would be quite the about-face to miss out on Kirk Cousins and to miss out on all these different veteran quarterbacks,” Schrager said. “Kyler Murray’s making a million dollars. They could have had Kyler Murray. They could have talked to Geno Smith. They didn’t entertain any of it because they were banking on Rodgers. He holds them hostage right now.”

Every quarterback Schrager named is off the board. Kirk Cousins, cut by the Atlanta Falcons in March, signed with the Las Vegas Raiders on a deal with $20 million guaranteed in 2026. The Raiders also shipped Geno Smith to the New York Jets for late-round picks. And Kyler Murray, with the Arizona Cardinals still covering most of his extension, signed with the Minnesota Vikings for the league minimum.

Making Rodgers the villain is the easy read. But he’s doing what he has always done: taking his time and letting the room wait. It’s the Steelers who chose not to have a fallback. They had a 42-year-old quarterback with nowhere else to go last season and handed him all the leverage anyway.

What’s more, Pittsburgh picks at no. 21 in the first round. They are not moving up for a franchise quarterback from there, and most analysts have them going for a wide receiver at that pick. The draft is in their own city in just two days. Art Rooney II had promised this wouldn’t drag out so long like last year, but it already has. What happens at quarterback is the only answer they don’t have at the moment, and that’s the answer they need the most.