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By James Brizuela
Contributing Writer
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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers dropped a major bomb on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Tuesday, confirming that the 2025 NFL season is likely to be his last.
Read more: Steelers' Aaron Rodgers Confirms He Plans to Retire After 2025 Season
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Rodgers told McAfee and his co-hosts, "I'm pretty sure this is my last season and that's why we did the one-year deal ... I've played twenty years and I've enjoyed it ...There's no better way to finish it than with Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers."
Considering Rodgers is set to step away from the game of football, he presumably has one season to impart all of his knowledge onto rookie quarterback Will Howard. Howard was drafted in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft out of Ohio State and could be next in line to helm the Steelers' offense.
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Rodgers has been through the unfortunate aspect of having to mentor his replacement, which happened when the Green Bay Packers drafted Jordan Love. Now, it appears his tune has changed on that, considering he is stepping away.
Rodgers' message to Howard is now far more heartfelt.
"I wanna help Will Howard as much as possible ... If I can help him become a better player that would be an incredible achievement ... He's such a good kid and I'm really looking forward to helping him out this season."
Rodgers initially talks about how he plans to let the quarterback room move forward without him constantly weighing in on matters, but he also plans to "help" the rest of the room as much as possible.
This includes mentoring Howard. Despite only having one season to work with, Howard is set to learn from one of the best quarterbacks the game has ever seen.
It will be interesting to see how the dynamic of Rodgers and Howard pans out in 2025. It will also be even more interesting to see if Howard gets some playing time during the regular season.
Mason Rudolph is still the backup quarterback, but anything can happen in the NFL. Howard might remain the third emergency quarterback unless he heavily impresses in training camp and preseason.
For now, Howard gets the opportunity to learn from Rodgers in any way that he can, especially if this is the future Hall of Famer's final season.
More NFL:
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For more on the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers, head to Newsweek Sports.
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