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12/31 17:00 CST Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers believes he'll have options if he chooses to play again in 2026 Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers believes he'll have options if he chooses to play again in 2026 By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer PITTSBURGH (AP) --- Aaron Rodgers isn't talking like someone who's on the verge of retirement. Maybe because there's a chance he's not. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, who recently turned 42, didn't shut the door completely on returning in 2026 when asked about it on Wednesday. The four-time MVP, who stressed he didn't "really want to get too deep in" what lies beyond Sunday night's showdown with Baltimore for the AFC North title, believes there will be opportunities available if he opts to give a 22nd season a shot. "Whenever the season ends, I'll be a free agent," said Rodgers, who signed a one-year deal with Pittsburgh in June. "So that'll give me a lot of options if I still want to play. (Maybe) not a lot options, but there'll be options, I would think. Maybe one or two." Rodgers' message heading into Week 18 is a notable shift from his stance in the early summer, when he said on "The Pat McAfee Show" that he was "pretty sure (2025) is it." It still might be, but Rodgers also seemed encouraged by his own play at times this season. Rodgers has thrown for 3,028 yards with 23 touchdowns and seven interceptions heading into an elimination game against the Ravens. He's also stayed largely healthy, save for fracturing the wrist on his left (non-throwing) hand, which forced him to sit out a loss to Chicago in late November. Rodgers joked last week that in some ways he feels like the fictional character Benjamin Button, who ages in reverse. Asked if he thinks he's shown enough over the past four months that any decision he makes about 2026 will rely solely on his desire to play and not his ability to play, he nodded. "I mean, I hope so, yeah," Rodgers said. "I mean, I hope I can get through this stretch and feel good physically so that's not in the conversation." Rodgers declined to pull the curtain back too far on what will go into the decision-making process, saying only that he'll talk with his wife and come to some sort of resolution "down the line." The Steelers have long pointed toward the 2026 NFL draft --- which will be held in Pittsburgh --- as an opportunity to land the young franchise quarterback they've been searching for since Ben Roethlisberger retired at the end of the 2021 season. Yet an incoming quarterback class that looked stacked in August doesn't look so stacked heading into January. While Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza figures to hear his name pretty early in the first round by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, some of the other prospects thought to be available --- such as Texas' Arch Manning and South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers --- have chosen to stay in school instead. While Rodgers made it a point to say that everything about his experience in Pittsburgh has been great, he also noted that there are always challenges to being in a new system. It's a transition he endured in Green Bay in 2019 when Matt LaFleur replaced Mike McCarthy as head coach. Though Rodgers' numbers during his first year with LaFleur were fine, it took an offseason of adjustments for him to truly feel comfortable. Rodgers responded by leading the league in passer rating in 2020 and 2021 while winning back-to-back MVPs. "I used to tease LaFleur about this all the time," Rodgers said. "I was a game manager in 2019 and a game impactor in 2020 and 2021. I think a lot of it's just familiarity with the offense and with the guys." Something that would be the case if Rodgers returned to Pittsburgh again next season, provided there are no significant adjustments to the coaching staff. "We've done the best we could with our conversations and our meeting time outside the facility and our meeting in the facility," Rodgers said. "But obviously, the more years you get in the system with the same guys. The more continuity you have, the better you feel like you can play." Wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who spent four years playing alongside Rodgers in Green Bay from 2018-21 before reuniting this season in Pittsburgh, has no doubt his good friend can play as long as he wants. "He can play football until he's 50. He's almost there," Valdes-Scantling said with a grin. "But he can for sure play until he is 50 years old. Throwing the football? He'll be able to do that." Rodgers has leaned into his time with the Steelers, particularly on an offense teeming with players who weren't even in elementary school when Rodgers was selected by Green Bay in the first round of the 2005 draft. He called the quarterback room he shares with veteran backup Mason Rudolph, rookie Will Howard, and third-year pro Skylar Thompson "one of the best I've ever been around." It's a room that will have at least one open seat next year, and maybe a guy in his early 40s looking for work. Either way, the man who came to Pittsburgh because he felt it was "good for my soul" appears to be on far better terms with the game and his place in it than he was following two drama-filled and injury-filled seasons with the New York Jets. "If I hadn't taken this path, I never would have met so many guys in the locker room who I now call close friends and wouldn't have the experiences and the memories on the field," he said. "I feel like there would be a little hole in my life, you know, missing without having this chapter. So I'm thankful for this time." ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

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