Just when it seemed like 2025 was going to be the end of the Aaron Rodgers era, the veteran quarterback suggested that, actually, he might not retire after this season.
Of course, we might be reading too much into a very small moment, when DK Metcalf said on Cam Heyward's podcast that they might run it back in 2026, to which Rodgers replied "maybe."
"Maybe" isn't a very strong endorsement of the idea, but it also isn't ruling it out! But what if we get to the end of the season and two things are true: First, that Rodgers is clearly having fun out there and doesn't want to end his career, and second, that the Steelers want to go another direction anyway.
Could there be an NFL team out there that's willing to do the Aaron Rodgers thing again? It would obviously depend on how well he plays in 2025, but if he has an impressive season, then yeah, some teams could show interest! Here are a few potential options.
Cleveland Browns
Look, this would be objectively hilarious, right? The Browns have four quarterbacks on the current roster, but there's no guarantee any of them is the 2026 starter for the team. Joe Flacco is at the doorstep of retirement. Kenny Pickett is Kenny Pickett. Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders are both rookies taken outside of the first two rounds, so neither should be counted on at this point to be the future for the franchise.
Why not keep the bad vibes going by adding another controversial name to the mix? Plus, even at his current age, Rodgers is a better option than everyone on the current Browns roster.
And there's also the fact that this would be a chance to stick it to the Steelers by playing them twice next year. Remember, this is all hypothetical, and in this hypothetical, there's going to be some bad blood left between Rodgers and his current team after he tells them he wants to come back and they tell him they're moving on.
Indianapolis Colts
The Colts hosted an open competition between Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson this offseason. The winner, if you can really call anyone a winner after that competition, was Jones.
The real winner, though, is whoever the Colts bring in next offseason. If Jones leads the team to the bottom of the NFL standings, that someone will probably be a rookie. But what if the Colts do what they always manage to do and win eight or nine games?
Sure, they could try to work out a draft day trade to move up for a quarterback, but they'd need to have a backup plan, and the quarterback free agent market next offseason isn't great. And by isn't great, I mean the best players available will be...Jake Browning? Davis Mills? Russell Wilson???
The Colts might just be so desperate that they have to bring Rodgers in as a bridge to whoever their future quarterback turns out to be.
New Orleans Saints
The Saints drafted Tyler Shough in the second round. He's an older prospect, someone who was viewed as ready for NFL action, so the fact that it appears Spencer Rattler is going to beat him out for the starting job is not a great sign.
Also not a great sign for Shough? There's only one NFL starting quarterback this year who was a second-round pick and is still with the team that drafted him. That's Jalen Hurts in Philly, and Tyler Shough is no Jalen Hurts.
The Saints are probably counting on just being an awful football team and drafting someone in the first round. That's probably the best way this season could go, unless, for some reason, the team sneaks out a few too many wins in the NFC South. It remains a pretty bad division, so it's possible!
In that case, maybe the team enters next offseason with the thought that they just need a veteran quarterback to come in and they can be 2026 NFC South champions. With how bad the quarterback market is, that might just mean they have to give Aaron Rodgers a call.
Minnesota Vikings
Rodgers has a chance to complete the full Brett Favre late-career run, albeit with an extra stop in Pittsburgh in the middle.
This is the least likely option for Rodgers, but the Vikings have a title-contending roster with a guy who's mostly still an unknown at quarterback. What happens if the Vikings throw J.J. McCarthy out there at quarterback and it all falls apart?
Like I said, it's unlikely. The Vikings liked McCarthy enough to let Sam Darnold walk this offseason, and the team trading Sam Howell and signing Carson Wentz feels like a strong vote of confidence, as Wentz is at a point in his career where you don't really want him having to come off the bench to play. Minnesota is all-in on McCarthy, but a lot can still change in a year.