If the Steelers know the options on the table for 42-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh general manager Omar Khan wasn’t ready to reveal any of the cards in play for either side.
Khan wouldn’t say whether Rodgers is considering retirement or other offers as an unrestricted free agent when the new league year begins March 11.
“That’s a question for Aaron. He knows how we feel. I think we know how he feels about us,” Khan said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “It was a good experience for both sides. Unfortunately we didn’t reach our goals on winning the games we wanted to at the end. But there’s a mutual respect there.”
Pittsburgh hosts the 2026 NFL Draft in April and Khan said he’s been working at warp speed to get on the same page with new head coach Mike McCarthy. McCarthy returned to the NFL sideline after one season away.
Khan said McCarthy, who last coached with the Cowboys, was a fan of quarterback Will Howard coming out of Ohio State and is excited to work with him. Howard was Pittsburgh’s sixth-round pick in 2025 but landed on injured reserve in August because of a fractured hand. He returned to practice in November.
“We mentioned Aaron, but we all agree that we’re looking for that next franchise guy,” Khan said. “We’re not there yet, and we may have the guy on the roster, we don’t know, in Will, and we’re excited to work with Will. We all know that has to be addressed, and we’re all looking for the same thing, we’re just not there yet.”
Rodgers came to Pittsburgh to play for Mike Tomlin, who resigned after the Steelers’ loss to the Houston Texans in the playoffs. But he won a Super Bowl with McCarthy during his prodigious run as quarterback of the Packers.
Khan said he spoke to Rodgers last week and the Steelers made it clear “the door is open to have Aaron back.”
Last offseason, Tomlin and the Steelers kept the door open for Rodgers until he finally made his signing official on June 6. Khan said neither side wants to delay a deal or “see it drag on like it did last year.”
