Steelers' Aaron Rodgers: 'Zero debate' 2026 will be last season - ESPN

LATROBE, Pa. — As he reported to his 22nd NFL training camp Tuesday morning, quarterback Aaron Rodgers affirmed that there's «zero doubt» 2026 is his last season playing football, even as at least one of his Pittsburgh teammates wondered aloud whether Rodgers might change his mind.

«I thought last year might be it,» Rodgers said after the Pittsburgh Steelers' conditioning test, echoing the same sentiment he expressed in May that the 2026 season would be his last. «And then Mike [McCarthy] got hired, and I talked to the wife and she said, 'You can do one more year.' I said, 'Well, we'll see if it works out.' And then it kind of all came together.»

Wide receiver DK Metcalf, though, said he wasn't ruling anything out when it comes to Rodgers.

«I mean, people just say things at the beginning of the year, not knowing how a year could go,» Metcalf said, speaking to local media just prior to Rodgers' media session. «He may not even get hit or touched this year and may say, 'Hey, let's go out there and do another one.' So, I mean, it just puts a weight off his back. He's just out there playing free, enjoying possibly his last year with his teammates, with a couple of close friends that he's made over the past two years.

»I think it's just a lot of weight off his shoulders right now. He's just going out there playing free."

But Rodgers dismissed the idea that he might decide to come back for another season after this year.

«No,» the four-time MVP said, shaking his head. «Zero debate. Zero.»

For McCarthy, the opportunity to coach Rodgers in his final season after also coaching him for 13 seasons in Green Bay, beginning in Rodgers' second NFL season in 2005, is meaningful.

«Obviously known him since the beginning,» McCarthy said.