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By Michael Gallagher
Sports Content Coordinator
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The Pittsburgh Steelers did something with quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Wednesday that is seldom seen.
The team placed the unrestricted free agent tag on Rodgers, meaning Pittsburgh will have the right to receive a compensatory draft pick if Rodgers signs with another team while also limiting his chances of signing with another team once training camp starts.
It also allows Rodgers to receive a 10% raise on his 2026 salary, which would put him at $15 million next season.
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If Rodgers doesn’t sign with another team by either July 22 or the Steelers’ first day of training camp (whichever one comes later), they’ll secure exclusive negotiating rights with the four-time MVP.
While the move is rarely used in the NFL, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk speculated the Steelers had a reason behind it.
“Is it possible Mike McCarthy doesn’t want him to come back, and that this is a message, this is something that they can always deny — ‘We didn’t try to push him away’ — but they know this is the kind of thing that will push him away,” Florio said.
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“[I think] the Steelers don’t want him back, but they can’t do what the Jets did last year because then he’ll put you on blast on McAfee’s show, so we have to act like we want him. And they’re playing this game where they act like they want him, and they don’t really want him, but they don’t want to say ‘We don’t want him’ because you have to tiptoe around the delicate genius or you’re going to have a problem that you don’t want and that you don’t need.
“… This may be the kill switch. This may be the stop-the-ride moment where the Steelers do something tangible that will get Aaron Rodgers to say, ‘I’m not playing this year.’”
By placing the UFA tender on Rodgers, it diminishes the chance he’ll sign with another team before training camp.
It also increases the chances that the closer the Steelers get to training camp, Rodgers either commits to one more season or retires — the latter of which would allow the team to see what it has in 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard and 2026 third-round pick Drew Allar.
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