We're into the middle of May now, and the entire NFL is still waiting on Aaron Rodgers to make a decision about his football future. It's the one big question that still looms over this offseason: Will the future Hall of Famer walk off into the darkness retreat? Will he come back for another year, and if so, where?
Rodgers continues to keep us all on edge, but luckily, the NFL's schedulers have removed the suspense — at least if one potential Week 1 matchup is to be believed. According to Steelers beat writer Nick Farabaugh, the Pittsburgh Steelers will open their 2025 season with a road matchup against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.
Sounds like the Steelers will open the season against the Jets in New York.
— Nick Farabaugh (@FarabaughFB) May 14, 2025
Fields vs. the Steelers, and potentially Rodgers vs. the Jets. https://t.co/5cL8WZNuHE
Of course, this will already be a QB reunion of sorts, with Steelers starter turned backup Justin Fields heading to New York in free agency. But all due respect to Fields, neither he nor a rebuilding Jets team figure to move the needle enough to make this a juicy opener. The NFL putting these teams against each other in Week 1 sure seems to suggest that the league itself thinks Rodgers will be headed to Pittsburgh.
NFL sure seems to think Aaron Rodgers will wind up in Pittsburgh based on reported Week 1 matchup
Week 1 is one of the highest-profile spots on the NFL calendar; America has waited for months and months for pro football to return, and Roger Goodell wants to welcome them back with some of the biggest matchups he can. The Steelers are among the league's biggest brands, and the Jets bring the New York market and a diehard fanbase of their own, but let's be honest: If you remove Rodgers from the equation, it's hard to see this moving the needle all that much.
The Jets figure to be taking their medicine in 2025 with a new head coach and new GM in town; even the team itself seemed to acknowledge a step back when it kept its powder dry for the most part this offseason. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has been stuck in a rut of mediocrity for years now, one that would figure to only get worse if Mason Rudolph is throwing passes to a receiver room that no longer contains George Pickens.
Really, there's only one reason why the NFL would put this game as front and center as can be: The narrative juice of not only Fields facing off against the team that benched him last season, but of Rodgers making his return to MetLife Stadium after things went so horribly wrong with the Jets. The fact that the veteran QB also started some beef with new Jets coach Aaron Glenn only adds more fuel to the fire.
Maybe this winds up being too speculative, or maybe the NFL doesn't have the right intel. Reading between the lines, though, Rodgers' future is clear.