Pittsburgh Steelers executives aren’t the only ones eagerly awaiting a decision from Aaron Rodgers on whether he plans to play football this season. The NFL schedule makers also were following the veteran free-agent quarterback’s saga very closely.
Rodgers has had talks about signing with Pittsburgh but hasn’t made a final decision if he wants to play in 2025, leaving the Steelers with Mason Rudolph and rookie Will Howard currently at the top of the depth chart behind center.
The NFL still gave the Steelers four prime-time games and one standalone international game in Ireland in the fourth week in the 2025 schedule — which was released in full Wednesday — banking that the team’s strong following and history of success under coach Mike Tomlin will make them an attractive team for networks, no matter what Rodgers decides.
“We tried to play it down the middle,” NFL scheduling executive Mike North said Thursday. “We don’t know anything more than than anybody else. The schedule was built for Coach Tomlin and for the Steelers. If Aaron decides to play, it probably just makes many, if not all, the Steelers games a little more interesting.”
North said the Steelers’ opener against one of the four-time NFL MVP’s former team, the New York Jets, likely would not have been in a 1 p.m. Eastern regional window had league officials known for sure that Rodgers would play.