Pittsburgh Steelers General Manager Omar Khan opened a pre-draft press conference in April, noting that the team has had “some great communication” with veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers. There were a lot of question marks leading up to that point, as it was expected that he would be available with a definitive answer by then. However, Khan’s positive comments made it seem like Rodgers would soon be back in a Steelers uniform. But even his stance seemed to have shifted when he appeared on Sirius XM.

“I don’t know where specifically Aaron is,” Khan said. “I can tell you that Aaron and I, and coach and Aaron, and Aaron’s representatives have had good conversations since the season ended and since Mike [McCarthy] got hired. It’s been positive, but, yeah, I don’t know where he is at this moment.”

The quote sounds strange because NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported just recently that Rodgers is expected to visit the Steelers on Friday and is likely to sign with the team for 2026. But a GM publicly saying he doesn’t know his quarterback’s location while the quarterback is reportedly en route to his building is a telling sign of the situation.

Pittsburgh, for its part, put an unrestricted free-agent tender on Aaron Rodgers. The mechanism bars Rodgers from signing elsewhere after July 22, and earned the Steelers a 2027 compensatory draft pick if he leaves before. But with this tender, they committed to him before he committed to them.

At the NFL Combine, Omar Khan had made it clear that “the door’s open to have Aaron back.”  Steelers owner Art Rooney II had confirmed they’d have a decision from Rodgers before the draft. Khan admitted the situation was complicated, but assured everyone Rodgers would be on the roster soon.

“I think the circumstances are a little different, but just conversations we’ve had, I don’t think either side wants to have this drag on like it did last year,” Khan had said at the combine.

But the 2026 NFL Draft is already behind us, and there’s no sign of Rodgers. Last season, Rodgers didn’t arrive at his decision until June, while similar narratives plagued Pittsburgh all of the 2025 offseason. Khan said he didn’t want a repeat of that, but he’s getting one anyway.

Now, the Steelers have their OTAs starting on May 18. Will Howard and Drew Allar are the young quarterbacks who need reps in a new offense under Mike McCarthy. Every week Rodgers holds out is a week those two develop without the veteran they’re supposed to learn behind. And with only Mason Rudolph as a proven backup, Pittsburgh can’t run its quarterback room on optimism alone.

Aaron Rodgers’ franchise tender pays him a little over $15 million if he signs it – that’s a 10% raise on his 2025 salary. But for Rodgers, this has never appeared to be about the money. For him, it all boils down to whether he wants to play football badly enough to stop making them wait.

The person most exposed by that question isn’t Rodgers. It’s the backup quarterback who’s been in Pittsburgh longer than anyone in that room – and who may not survive the answer.

Does Mason Rudolph leave in case Rodgers returns?

While the Rodgers situation seems to be unraveling, the Steelers have continued preparing for the upcoming season. They have a relatively inexperienced QB room, with only Mason Rudolph being a player with NFL minutes under his belt. However, former Steelers linebacker James Harrison had a very firm stance on his position if the Rodgers situation were to get resolved.  

“If Aaron comes back, or when Aaron comes back, he gone. Mason’s gone,” Harrison said Joe Hadden on the Deebo & Joe podcast. “Because you’re gonna keep your two young guys, get what you’ve got going on there, develop them however it’s gonna be. [Rudolph] done had eight years to develop and still ain’t did it. That’s gonna be something that they’re gonna end up moving on from.”

Last season, Rudolph posted 310 passing yards in 5 appearances. He even took over briefly when Rodgers left with an injury against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 11. He has a 8-5-1 as a starter in Pittsburgh – the only quarterback in that room with NFL wins.

The Steelers drafted Drew Allar in the third round of the 2026 draft and brought Will Howard as a sixth-round pick last year. There’s no roster sport that protects a backup who isn’t developing. Meanwhile, head coach Mike McCarthy hasn’t been subtle about Howard.

“We’ve talked about quarterbacks for 20 years, and it’s all about adding the right people to the room,” McCarthy said on Mad Dog Sport Radio. “Will Howard is someone I’m extremely excited about. I think our short time together, there’s a lot there to work with, and I think he’s definitely going to be a starter in this league.”

Now, if Aaron Rodgers signs, the room features him, Howard, and Allar. Three quarterbacks on one roster should be enough. The fourth – a veteran who isn’t in the long-term plan and whose primary value was emergency insurance – a luxury Pittsburgh might not pay huge wages for. Whether Rodgers is back or not, it seems like having another veteran presence is going to be vital moving forward, if you factor in his age, which is exactly why the team might continue with Rudolph in their QB room.