As the Pittsburgh Steelers hit the road for the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this week, much of the team’s focus still seems to center on the quarterback position under first-year head coach Mike McCarthy.

Whether they draft a quarterback in the first round at No. 21 overall remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the Steelers want Aaron Rodgers back for a second season.

The ball is in Rodgers’ court though as it’s up to him to decide what he wants to do, whether that’s play for the Steelers, head elsewhere, or call it a career and wind up in the Hall of Fame one day.

If the Steelers bring him back though, many don’t expect it to be much different than it was during the 2025 season, even with McCarthy calling things offensively. That’s in large part why ESPN’s Bill Barnwell has Rodgers in his Tier 4 of free agent quarterbacks as a borderline starter/high-end backup — right alongside guys like Malik Willis and Jimmy Garoppolo.

“Rodgers’ value goes down as he continues to step onto the field, with the future Hall of Famer offering virtually no ceiling for a Steelers team that remains desperate to make the playoffs and entirely incurious about what it would be like to go any further,” Barnwell writes. “For these Steelers, the mid-40s version of Rodgers is the perfect quarterback.”

At 42 years old, it’s fair to say that Rodgers doesn’t offer a ceiling for the Steelers. He’s not going to elevate things offensively, which is what you want at the quarterback position. Granted, he made plays last season when it mattered most, like the game-winning touchdown pass in Week 18 against the Baltimore Ravens and some great fourth-quarter performances leading to wins.

Overall, though, he’s just a placeholder and isn’t elevating the Steelers into that contender status. Right now, he’s the ideal bridge quarterback for the Steelers, one who can help them remain competitive while they search for that next franchise quarterback. He should be relatively cheap on the open market, knows McCarthy’s scheme and is comfortable in Pittsburgh.

It’s an easy decision to bring him back.

What won’t be an easy task, at least based on perception right now, is re-signing Kenneth Gainwell. Barnwell placed the 2025 Steelers MVP in the Tier 4 of running backs in free agency as a borderline starter/high-end backup, too.

With Dallas re-signing Javonte Williams to a three-year, $24 million deal over the weekend, that helps solidify Gainwell’s market some. Still, Gainwell should garner plenty of interest.

“Gainwell was always a part-time back during his time with the Eagles, but by the end of his lone year in Pittsburgh, he had emerged as Aaron Rodgers’ most frequent target,” Barnwell writes. “Offenses probably don’t want to build as much of their passing game out of swing screens and checkdowns to Gainwell as the Steelers did, but he can catch the football and posted a 47.4% success rate as a runner last season, the sixth-best rate in the league among backs with 100 carries or more.”

He was a consistent, dependable offensive weapon who always made something happen, either as a receiver out of the backfield or as a runner. The Steelers signed him for just $1.79 million last year in free agency, getting quite the bargain, but now he’s set to get paid.

Hopefully that’s in Pittsburgh because he’s a great complementary piece in the backfield with Jaylen Warren, and there’s no need to let that tandem split up, especially given the cap space the Steelers have to work with. But it does remain to be seen just how he fits in McCarthy’s offense.