The Pittsburgh Steelers open training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania on July 28, and for the first time in eight years, Mike McCarthy will be running it with Aaron Rodgers as his quarterback again. The two spent eleven seasons together in Green Bay, and now they are trying to recreate that partnership on purpose, in what Rodgers has already called the final year of his career.
A Coaching Change Made With Rodgers in Mind, Even If Not Because of Him
Pittsburgh hired McCarthy in late January, days after Mike Tomlin stepped down following 19 seasons as the Steelers’ head coach. Team president Art Rooney II was careful to frame the decision as being about McCarthy’s own resume, separate from any specific plan involving Rodgers. “We decided to bring Mike on because we believe that he’s the right coach for us at this point to help lead us to a championship,” Rooney said after the hire was completed. “We don’t know what Aaron’s plans are right now, and that did not weigh heavily in the decision.” Still, Rooney acknowledged the door was “open” for a Rodgers return, and the timing was hard to miss. McCarthy, a Pittsburgh native, arrived with 18 seasons of head coaching experience between Green Bay and Dallas, a career regular-season record of 174-112-2, and a Super Bowl XLV ring earned in part by beating the Steelers themselves.
Why Rodgers Came Back
Rodgers has said that Tomlin’s departure initially pushed him toward retirement. The McCarthy hire changed his mind. The two won a Super Bowl together in Green Bay, and Rodgers threw for more than 40,000 yards and won two MVP awards during their years working together. By mid-May, Rodgers had agreed to a new one-year deal with Pittsburgh worth up to $25 million, including $22 million guaranteed. At his first OTA press conference under McCarthy, Rodgers removed any ambiguity about how long this arrangement would last. “This is it,” he said, a firmer commitment than the “pretty sure” hedge he offered a year earlier. Barring a change of heart, the 2026 season will be Rodgers’ 22nd in the NFL, and by his own account, his last.
What He Showed in Year One With Pittsburgh
The reunion is a bet that McCarthy can get more out of Rodgers than Tomlin’s staff did, even though last season was hardly a disaster. Rodgers started 16 games for Pittsburgh in 2025, completing 65.7 percent of his passes for 3,322 yards with 24 touchdowns against seven interceptions, numbers that helped the Steelers win the AFC North and reach the playoffs. That run ended badly, with a wild-card loss to Houston in which Rodgers was sacked four times and threw a pick-six. McCarthy’s staff is betting that a system Rodgers ran for over a decade in Green Bay will smooth out exactly those kinds of collapses when the stakes are highest, a question Pittsburgh has struggled to answer in the postseason for years.
The Roster Around Him
Camp will also sort out who is actually behind Rodgers if his body does not hold up for a full 17-game season, given that he already missed time to injury last year. Mason Rudolph returns as the veteran backup, with 2025 draft pick Will Howard and rookie Drew Allar rounding out the room. It is one of the least experienced backup quarterback groups McCarthy has had in 18 years as a head coach, which raises the degree of difficulty if the 42-year-old Rodgers cannot finish what he started.
What Camp Will Actually Answer
None of the questions hanging over Pittsburgh’s summer are really about whether McCarthy could talk Rodgers into showing up. That part is settled. The real evaluation begins now, in practice reps at Saint Vincent, in how quickly a 42-year-old quarterback and a 62-year-old coach can rebuild the timing that made them so effective together more than a decade ago, and in whether an offense built around continuity has enough talent elsewhere to turn a division title into something more in 2026. For a broader look at how Pittsburgh’s storyline fits into the rest of the league’s season preview, and for more football coverage throughout camp, The Playbook Wire will track it as it develops.
