Aaron Rodgers says the 2026 NFL season will be his last: ‘This is it’

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers took his time before deciding he wanted to come back for a 22nd season. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback already has made up his mind about a 23rd: There won’t be one.

“This is it,” Rodgers said Wednesday when the four-time NFL MVP was asked if this would be his final year.

The 42-year-old did not expand on why he came to that conclusion when making his first public comments since signing a one-year deal to return to the Steelers on Monday.

Rodgers instead is leaning into the present, including his reunion with first-year Steelers coach Mike McCarthy. The two spent 13 seasons together in Green Bay earlier in their careers, and Rodgers pointed to McCarthy’s hiring as Mike Tomlin’s replacement as a major factor in his decision to run it back one last time.

“It is like a (bunch of) ‘pinch me’ moments that have happened in the last few days,” he said following the second day of Pittsburgh’s voluntary organized team activities.

McCarthy and Rodgers won a Super Bowl together in Green Bay after the 2010 season, and they remained in frequent contact over the winter and into the spring as Rodgers weighed whether he wanted to put his body through the rigors of a 17-game season.

Rodgers ultimately landed on yes, hoping for the rarest of exits: one he can dictate on his own terms.

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Will Graves, The Associated Press