Pittsburgh Steelers owner and president Art Rooney II remains confident Aaron Rodgers will be the team's quarterback in 2026, but he said Wednesday the club applied the rarely used UFA tender on him to make sure it would secure a compensatory pick "in the unlikely event he goes somewhere else."
"The main thing that the tender gives us is potential for a comp pick if Aaron would choose to go to another team," Rooney II said in an interview on NFL Network. "We don't expect that, but by the same token, you never know. And it's just something that we had an opportunity to protect if needed.
"... And so not a real big deal, but just something that if in the unlikely event that he goes somewhere else, we are eligible for a comp pick in that situation."
In the team's first public comments since making the procedural move, Rooney II added that the Steelers had to make it by Monday's deadline and that Rodgers and his representatives were informed of the decision.
Rooney II last gave a public update about Rodgers nearly a month ago at the league's annual meetings in Arizona, where he expressed confidence the Steelers would receive an answer from the 42-year-old quarterback about his future by the NFL draft. That, however, didn't happen.
Still, Rooney II said Wednesday he believes the ongoing saga will wrap up soon.
"We've been in contact with Aaron on a regular basis," he said. "He's been keeping us up to date on his plans. And even though I thought it probably would have been concluded by now, I think we will come to a conclusion here in the next few weeks."
