Aaron Rodgers is calling it.
The four-time NFL MVP confirmed on Wednesday that the 2026 season will be his last, making the announcement while speaking with reporters in Pittsburgh.
Asked whether he believed this could be his final year, Rodgers gave a short answer that ended two decades of speculation: “This is it, yep.”
Aaron Rodgers on his final season in the NFL:
“Aaron do you believe this could be your last year or do you think about that right now?”
“Yes.”
“As in your last year?”
“This is it, yep.” pic.twitter.com/vFu4QworwA
— Ashley Liotus (@AshleyLiotus) May 20, 2026
Rodgers, now 42, is returning to the Steelers for a second season in Pittsburgh after signing with the team ahead of the 2025 campaign.
The announcement means the 2026 season will be his 22nd in the NFL, a remarkable run for a quarterback who was famously drafted 24th overall by the Green Bay Packers in 2005 and spent years waiting behind Brett Favre.
AP reported the Pittsburgh scene this way after Rodgers made the announcement:
Rodgers took his time before deciding whether to come back for a 22nd season, but he did not leave much suspense about whether there would be a 23rd. When the four-time MVP was asked Wednesday if this would be his final year, he said, “This is it.”
The 42-year-old did not offer a long explanation for the decision, perhaps because none was needed. He had wondered whether his Pittsburgh run, and maybe his NFL career, was over after the Steelers’ playoff loss in January and the coaching change that followed.
That changed after Pittsburgh hired Mike McCarthy, Rodgers’ former coach in Green Bay. Rodgers said he may have had a small role in pushing the Steelers to talk with McCarthy, and now the two are reunited for one final season.
The setup gives Rodgers one more run with a coach who already knows him, a franchise that expects to compete, and a clear endpoint. After years of will-he-or-won’t-he retirement drama, the quarterback finally put a date on it.
For Steelers fans, that turns every week of the 2026 season into part of a countdown. For the rest of the league, it means one of the most debated quarterbacks of the modern era has finally named his exit.
He won Super Bowl XLV with Green Bay following the 2010 season and earned MVP honors four times, but a second ring has eluded him throughout a career filled with individual brilliance and postseason heartbreak.
The Steelers confirmed the contract side of the comeback before Rodgers revealed the retirement timetable:
Pittsburgh announced that Rodgers signed a one-year contract to return for the 2026 season. The team noted that he originally joined the Steelers as an unrestricted free agent in 2025 and is now back for a second year in black and gold.
The move keeps Rodgers in Pittsburgh with McCarthy, the coach who helped guide him through the prime of his Green Bay career. It also gives the Steelers a veteran quarterback for what now becomes a true final push rather than another year of offseason guessing.
NFL Network also reported that the deal sends Rodgers into his 22nd NFL season. That makes this less of an open-ended comeback and more of a farewell tour with one last chance to chase a second championship.
Rodgers’ return also ends the annual quarterback uncertainty in Pittsburgh, at least for now. The Steelers know who their starter is, and everyone else now knows this is the final lap.
“This is it.”
Aaron Rodgers says he will retire after the 2026 season. pic.twitter.com/mjPADJdRLY
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 20, 2026
His journey from Green Bay to the New York Jets to Pittsburgh has been one of the stranger career arcs in NFL history.
The Jets tenure took a brutal turn in 2023 when a torn Achilles ended his season just minutes into his debut, a moment that looked like it might be the final chapter.
Instead, Rodgers kept going, eventually landing in Pittsburgh for one more chapter with a franchise built around defense, toughness, and January expectations.
As The Gateway Pundit noted, Rodgers has never been shy about charting his own path, whether it’s challenging NFL groupthink, speaking his mind on topics well beyond football, or choosing when and where to play on his own terms.
Retiring on his own schedule, in a Steelers uniform, fits the pattern perfectly.
Love him or not, Aaron Rodgers played the game at a level very few human beings ever have. One more season, then the Hall of Fame clock starts ticking.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
