Aaron Rodgers Book Author Shares Why He Believes QB Has Delayed Steelers Signing

It's May 18, 2025, and Aaron Rodgers still has not signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

While it's also possible Rodgers either picks another team or retires from football entirely, it seems increasingly likely that he and Pittsburgh are unofficially in cahoots, considering it would be beyond irresponsible for the team to have waited this long without some sort of sign that the vet would be joining the squad.

As to what that sign might be, or at least the reason behind the delay, the author who wrote a biography of Rodgers—Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers—has weighed in on the matter.

“I just think verbally, behind the scenes, not that he guaranteed it, but he’s told [the Steelers], 'Listen, I'm gonna play for you. I just don’t want to go there and then miss part of mandatory minicamp because of my personal issues,'" biographer Ian O'Connor mused during a Friday appearance on 93.7 The Fan's PM Team. "'I’m pretty sure they’re gonna be solved by the end of May, at least in my satisfaction where I can give you my all.' So that’s where I think it is."

In other words, O'Connor thinks that, in waiting to commit to the Steelers until his personal matters are resolved, the QB is attempting to avoid a situation similar to what happened last year, when he missed mandatory New York Jets minicamp for an already-planned trip to Egypt.

"If I had $100 to put down, my feeling is he'll be in uniform June 10 for the start of the mandatory minicamp," the writer added. "I don't know about OTAs [on May 27]. ... I think that word 'mandatory,' after what he went through last year when he missed two practices to be checking out the pyramids in Egypt, he took so much grief for that that I think he will honor that. And my suspicion is that Mike Tomlin has given a verbal sign-off to that already."

Relatedly, O'Connor also noted Friday that he thinks he has a "sense" of what this personal issue might be. "I'm not comfortable repeating it right now, but I don't think it would prevent him from playing football with the Steelers," he claimed.

The only time Rodgers himself has outwardly weighed in on this problem was during an April appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, when he said he was working through some difficult personal matters that were preventing him from committing to a new team.

The good news is O'Connor thinks a Steelers-Rodgers duo will amount to a "happy ending," and that Pittsburgh could be the "perfect place" for him to finish his career and get back to "being a football player."

The wait continues.