Aaron Rodgers returned to the Steelers for the start of Phase III of the club’s offseason program, immediately getting on the field for Monday’s practice.
After the session, offensive lineman Troy Fautanu — who has been working at left tackle after spending the 2025 season on the right side — said that he and many of his teammates found out about the QB signing on Instagram.
But Fautanu is glad to have the veteran QB leading the huddle again.
“I was happy to see him back, obviously to have our leader back from last year, kind of having a year with him and kind of learning from him,” Fautanu said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “We kind of just picked up where we left off.
”... Today had to get back used to [the cadence], because we’ve been hearing Will [Howard] and Mason [Rudolph] and them the past couple weeks. But once he got back in there after that first snap, it was kind of like we never left.”
Rodgers, 42, completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 3,322 yards with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions last season.
The Steelers signed undrafted free agent cornerback Tamon Lynum on Monday, the team announced.
Lynum had a tryout at the team’s rookie minicamp, and he and center Greg Crippen were the only two players signed afterward.
The Steelers have 91 players on their roster, including an international exemption.
Lynum played two seasons at Pitt after transferring from Nebraska. He appeared in 23 games at Nebraska, totaling 14 tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss and two forced fumbles.
In two seasons at Pitt, Lynum played 23 games and recorded 57 tackles, two interceptions and eight pass breakups.
He was not invited to the Scouting Combine.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers officially re-signed with the Steelers on Monday, just as the team began its OTAs.
When it comes to Rodgers’ pass-catchers, Pittsburgh traded for Michael Pittman earlier this offseason. The two started to get acquainted weeks ago, when Pittman got in some throws with the QB. But he found out Rodgers was officially coming back much like the rest of us.
“I found out from Twitter,” Pittman said Monday, via Mark Kaboly of the Pat McAfee Show.
Pittman is still getting familiar with Rodgers’ style as a QB, but the receiver knows Rodgers isn’t afraid to let a teammate know when he doesn’t like something.
“It didn’t happen to me specifically yet, but I’ve seen it from watching games and stuff,” Pittman said with a laugh, via Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “He’s just a vet — a super vet quarterback. So he knows what he likes and doesn’t like. You guys have watched him [play, how if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do, he’s going to let you know — which is good. I just think it’s good to have that leadership.”
Even with Rodgers’ experience, Pittman knows he and the QB have some work to do to get on the same page.
“This is the first day,” Pittman said, via Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “so we have from now up until that first game, and we’re gonna get as many reps as possible.”
With quarterback Aaron Rodgers returning to Pittsburgh, the Steelers now have four quarterbacks on the offseason roster. Eventually, they’ll be required to cut the roster to 53. Which could mean they’ll be moving on from one of the three quarterbacks not named Aaron Rodgers.
Or will they?
Chris Simms and I talked it through during Monday’s PFT Live. And we came to the conclusion that they’ll possibly keep all of them — Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, and Drew Allar.
It rarely ever happens. Three, for most teams, is the maximum. (Plenty only keep two.) Still, this could be one of those unique situations in which a team keeps four quarterbacks after the cuts are made.
As to Rudolph, the Steelers need a veteran who can play in a pinch. A guy who is game ready. A guy who can step in if Rodgers is injured during a game. And Rudolph has 34 regular-season appearances and 19 starts, with a 9-9-1 record.
As to Allar, they just used a third-round pick to draft him. Even if they need to re-teach him the position from the ground up (and they apparently do), cutting Allar would be an admission that they wasted a prime pick, the 76th overall selection.
As to Howard, the Steelers spent plenty of time in the offseason talking him up. McCarthy supposedly loves him. Cutting him would expose their comments as the smokescreen many believed they were.
Yes, Allar or Howard — if cut — could be signed to the practice squad. But first they’d have to get through waivers. Any other team could make a claim. And if they aren’t claimed by another team, wouldn’t that be a loud and clear indictment that neither guy should have been drafted?
The safe way to save face would be to trade Allar or Howard. Or to cut Rudolph (who wouldn’t be subject to waivers) and sign him to the practice squad. They could then elevate Rudolph for game days and make him the backup quarterback. But Rudolph would have to be willing to not sign to another team’s active roster, for that strategy to work.
In the end, the only practical solution could be to keep all four of them on the 53-man roster. Which would make them shorthanded at some other position, by one player.
With Rodgers back, it’s a good problem to have. Still, the only good problem is no problem. With four quarterbacks, the Steelers eventually will have a problem to solve as to how the rest of the depth chart fits into the 53-man limit.
The news that Aaron Rodgers is officially back with the Steelers for his 22nd NFL season means he’ll continue to add to one of the most impressive statistical résumés any quarterback has ever assembled.
Of particular note is that Rodgers is likely to move ahead of Peyton Manning for the third-most touchdown passes in NFL history. Rodgers has thrown 527 touchdown passes in his NFL career, while Manning retired with 539, so Rodgers needs just 13 touchdown passes to move ahead of Manning. As long as Rodgers stays healthy, he should eclipse Manning’s career total early in the season.
Rodgers would likely need to play two more seasons to move into second place, which is currently occupied by Drew Brees, with 571 career touchdown passes. And Tom Brady’s all-time record of 649 career touchdown passes appears insurmountable.
Rodgers could also lose, a couple of of the career records he currently holds, however. At the moment, Rodgers is tied for the highest career passer rating in NFL history: Rodgers and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson both have a passer rating of 102.2. But last year Jackson’s passer rating was 103.8 and Rodgers’ was 94.8, so if they both play at the same level in 2026, Jackson will take first place in the record books all to himself.
Rodgers could also fall behind Joe Burrow (101.1) and Patrick Mahomes (100.8), who are currently third and fourth in NFL history in career passer rating. The best career passer rating is a record Rodgers likely won’t hold by the end of the season.
Another career record Rodgers could lose is the all-time lowest interception percentage. Rodgers has thrown 123 interceptions in 8,743 career passes, a career interception rate of 1.41 percent. Rodgers is just barely ahead of Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who has a career interception rate of 1.42 percent, and not far ahead of Justin Herbert at 1.7 percent and Burrow and Mahomes at 1.8 percent.
Ultimately, the numbers Rodgers puts up this season, when he’ll turn 43 years old, won’t matter a lot to his legacy. He’s an all-time great regardless of what he does this season. But his career numbers will change, and perhaps not entirely for the better.
