Steelers Now
Former Green Bay Packers wide receiver James Jones thinks his former teammate Aaron Rodgers should have extra motivation to sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers, especially with the New York Jets being the Steelers’ Week 1 opponent.
The potential revenge game against the Green Bay Packers is nothing compared to Rodgers’ fallout with the Jets. Like Cam Heyward, Jones believes the Jets did Rodgers dirty.
“He should be juiced up with this schedule.” Jones said on FS1’s Facility. “I’m not even talking about the Packers. The Packers, y’all split ways, that’s all good. We’ll see you again. They’ll probably celebrate him and all that stuff. But this Jets stuff, the way they disrespected him leaving down there.”
.@89JonesNTAF says Aaron Rodgers should have extra motivation to sign with the Steelers:
"He should be juiced up over the way the Jets disrespected him." pic.twitter.com/bGlHrbOMzF
— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) May 16, 2025
In a recent appearance on NBC Sports, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said he expects Aaron Rodgers to eventually sign with the Steelers. LaFleur, who coached Rodgers from 2019-2022, just can’t see Rodgers calling it a career.
“I’m anticipating that happening, so I won’t be surprised,” LaFleur said. “I just can’t see him not playing the game of football this year, and (signing with the Steelers) obviously makes the most sense. I just know in our discussions over the years, he’s a guy that he’s had as much respect for as anybody, a guy like Mike Tomlin. I could certainly see that coming to fruition here pretty shortly.”
The Steelers have been waiting on a decision from four-time league MVP for two months, and according to Adam Schefter of ESPN, it’s getting down the wire for Rodgers. He has to sign with Pittsburgh, or at least give the Steelers an answer on his plans in the coming weeks.
“I think the Steelers’ mandatory minicamp is next month, I forget the dates, but roughly June 10th,” Schefter said of Rodgers’ looming decision on Unsportsmanlike. “I think we should a decision from Aaron Rodgers shortly before then about whether or not he should play. To me, you can’t miss mandatory minicamp when you’re starting to gear up. I guess you can, but it’s not ideal.”
Despite the fact that the start of OTAs is now just two weeks away, the Steelers have still not given Rodgers a deadline on when they feel he must sign a contract before they’ll consider other options, and it doesn’t seem likely that they will.
“We keep hearing that he’s, I guess, headed in our direction, and so that seems to indicate that all signs are positive so far,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said at the 2025 NFL owners meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. in March.
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