Packers coach Matt LaFleur predicts quarterback Aaron Rodgers will sign with the Steelers before 2025 season begins
Ahead of his seventh season with the Green Bay Packers, Matt LaFleur's focus is firmly on his own team, but he still keeps tabs on former quarterback Aaron Rodgers. As Rodgers continues going back and forth with the Pittsburgh Steelers, LaFleur sees a resolution to the situation soon.
Amid retirement rumors, LaFleur cannot envision Rodgers hanging up his cleats, he told NBC Sports' Chris Simms. The 45-year-old coach said he thinks the Steelers “make the most sense” for Rodgers and expects a deal to happen shortly.
“I just can't see [Aaron Rodgers] not playing football this year,” LaFleur said on NBC's ‘Chris Simms Unbuttoned' podcast. “[The Steelers] obviously makes the most sense. I know that, in our discussions over the years, a guy that he's had respect for as much as anybody is Mike Tomlin. I could certainly see that coming to fruition here, pretty shortly.”
LaFleur and Rodgers last worked together in 2022 before the latter left Green Bay to sign with the New York Jets in free agency. The Packers went just 8-9 in 2022, marking the only season of LaFleur's six-year tenure he failed to make the playoffs.
The Steelers and Rodgers continue to stand in a stalemate as the latter works through his personal issues in silence. Fully believing he is still capable of starting a 17-game season, the 41-year-old Rodgers said his unspecified personal issues will determine whether he returns for one more year in 2025 or not.
Packers, Matt LaFleur believe in fifth-year leap from Jordan Love
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Since Rodgers left the team, Green Bay put its full belief in 2020 first-round pick Jordan Love, who has shown signs of being the next franchise quarterback. While not yet near the MVP-level Rodgers was with the Packers, Love is primed for a potential breakout in 2025.
Though preparing for his fifth professional season, Love is only entering his third year as a starter. LaFleur, a former offensive coordinator, is putting his full effort into his quarterback's development. Green Bay brought in nine-year NFL veteran Sean Mannion, who played for LaFleur on the Los Angeles Rams, as their quarterbacks coach in 2025. The franchise believes Mannion will be key to taking Love's game to the next level.
In Love's first two seasons, he increased the Packers' win total each year. However, he has yet to make it past the Divisional Round of the playoffs and has never clinched a divisional title. Coming off an 11-win season in 2024, LaFleur and Love eye a return to the top of a vulnerable NFC North division.
