After months of waiting, what many in the football world thought would happen finally has. Saturday night, news broke that Aaron Rodgers signed a one-year deal to return to the Steelers.

His contract, reportedly worth up to $25 million, is a steep increase from the $13.65 million deal he signed with the Steelers back in 2025, after months of contemplation regarding his NFL future.

His 22nd season in the league will see him reunite with longtime head coach Mike McCarthy, who took the job after Mike Tomlin stepped down from his post following 19 years on the job. Rodgers was the starting quarterback for 11 seasons under McCarthy in Green Bay, and the two teamed up to defeat the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.

The official return of Rodgers now gives the Steelers four quarterbacks on the roster. Behind the 42-year-old Rodgers is veteran backup Mason Rudolph, former sixth-round pick Will Howard, and last month’s selection at 76th overall, Drew Allar.

Though Rodgers coming back finally puts the question to rest, it also crowds the quarterback room and opens a series of new questions, including for the man who backed Rodgers up last year.

What does the future hold for Mason Rudolph?

Following his heroic run at the end of the 2023 season to guide the Steelers into the playoffs, the Oklahoma State product cashed in and signed a one-year, $2.87 million deal in Tennessee. As a free agent again last year, Rudolph returned to Pittsburgh on a two-year, $8 million total deal.

He signed that contract during the waiting game Rodgers was playing with the Steelers, and ultimately took second-string reps once Rodgers arrived.

Rudolph served as the backup to Rodgers all of 2025, appearing in five games for the Steelers. After Rodgers suffered a wrist injury in the first half of Pittsburgh’s Week 11 win over Cincinnati, Rudolph played the second half and threw an efficient 12-of16 for 127 yards and a touchdown.

The following week, he made his lone start of the season, going 24-of-31 for 171 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a lost fumble. The Steelers lost that game 31-28 to a very good Bears team in Chicago.

At 30 years old (31 in July), Rudolph has carved out a career for himself as a reliable backup arm. Career wise, he is 9-9-1 with a 66.4% completion rate and 1.36 touchdown-to-interception ratio. You know what you are getting with Rudolph: someone who can manage an offense, throw the deep ball, but generally doesn’t fare well against upper-level defenses.

His experience and predictability made him a comfortable choice to take as a backup, but it’s certainly less exciting than the idea of seeing any of the young quarterbacks the Steelers have getting a bigger role.

Howard, a sixth-round pick back in last year’s draft, suffered an injury in training camp that sidelined him during the preseason. Once the season got underway and he returned to practice, there wasn’t any opportunity to get on the field.

The Ohio State product won a National Championship with the Buckeyes, and carried a massive amount of hype within circles of the fan base. But, for all of the traits there are to like about Howard, he’s still a sixth-round pick who has never taken a snap outside of practice.

With Rodgers still unsigned, the Steelers felt they needed more. The uncertainty led to Pittsburgh taking Drew Allar out of Penn State in the third round.

Like Howard, Allar’s selling points include a ton of the physical traits you look for in a quarterback: 6′ 5, around 230 pounds, and a strong arm. And unlike Howard, Allar was taken in the third round. That’s a premium pick in the draft, someone who any organization needs to contribute sooner or later.

But, he’s also the newest quarterback in town. Even if McCarthy is bringing in a new playbook, he lacks the experience of Rudolph and the year of chemistry with teammates that Howard was developed.

All of this puts the Steelers in a bit of a bind, especially as to who the backup to Rodgers should be in 2026.

It’s highly unlikely that the Steelers carry four quarterbacks on their active roster. Someone is going to be the odd-man out. With two “project” quarterbacks on the roster, it’s possible that the Steelers opt to keep the safe option in Rudolph, and have Howard and Allar compete for third-string reps.

But, under a coach in McCarthy who has a reputation for developing quarterbacks, it’s also possible the Steelers want Allar and/or Howard more involved in the offense, and the chance to step into action if Rodgers goes down.

And in that scenario, Rudolph could be the odd one out.

The simple path there is just to cut Rudolph, making him a free agent and allowing other teams to take a look at him if necessary. But, if the Steelers do decide to move on from Rudolph, the trade route is also a possibility.

There’s some precedence here for the Steelers when it comes to an overflow of backup quarterbacks. Ironically, the last time they did, it involved Rudolph. After Rudolph won the backup job over Joshua Dobbs in 2019, the Steelers were able to take advantage of a quarterback-needy team in Jacksonville.

Nick Foles, the former Super Bowl MVP who was making his Jaguars debut in 2019, was injured in the season opener. Foles was diagnosed with a broken left clavicle, and underwent surgery the next day. That same day, the Steelers traded Dobbs to Jacksonville for a fifth-round pick in 2020.

In even further irony, the Steelers would lose their starting quarterback the next week, as Ben Roethlisberger went down with a season-ending elbow injury, throwing Rudolph into the starting gig.

Training camp is months away, and a lot can happen between now and then. But this signing, now that it’s official, Rudolph’s future in Pittsburgh gets less certain.