Aaron Rodgers’ Former Teammate Pushed Him to Play 1 More Season Amidst Retirement Buzz

Aaron Rodgers has returned to the Pittsburgh Steelers for one more season, but this did not come as an easy decision. He apparently received some pushes from a former teammate.

Former wide receiver James Jones, who spent eight seasons in Green Bay with Rodgers, revealed that he had sent a message telling Rodgers to suit up for the 2026-27 NFL season.

“I text Aaron Rodgers when Mike (McCarthy) got the job and said, ‘you got to play one more,’” Jones said during an appearance on SiriusXM. “I texted him that! We gotta play one more.”

“As a teammate, if I thought the relationship wasn’t good, why would that be my first text? What I see with my own two eyes in these dudes’ relationship, like these dudes were like father and son. And they had to be like that because it was quarterback and head coach.”

At one point this offseason, it appeared that Rodgers would walk away from the NFL. He and the Pittsburgh Steelers had lost in the wild-card round of the playoffs to the Houston Texans, and he no longer had head coach Mike Tomlin leading the team.

Tomlin had chosen to step away from the team after the loss to the Texans, ending a tenure that began in 2007 and saw the Steelers win one Super Bowl.

This is one reason why users on Polymarket and other platforms began making trades around the prospect that Rodgers would retire. The chances of him retiring topped 70% in January before dipping down to 50% in February. Now, they are at a mere 4% now that he has signed a deal to return.

The relationship with Rodgers is something that McCarthy acknowledged when he first took the Steelers job in January. He confirmed that he would want Rodgers to be his quarterback in 2026-27.

“”I just think just like anything, knowing Aaron long enough, going through seasons,” McCarthy said. “…I think when players … when guys are up at that stage of their career, they need to step away and decompress. I think that’s very important. The game is so emotional. What these men commit to, what they put into it. I think that time away is important.

“I have spoken to Aaron, so that’s really where we are there. But I was able to sit back and watch the games and watch most of the Pittsburgh games on TV, and I thought he was a great asset for the team.”

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