Aaron Rodgers is returning to a new Pittsburgh Steelers. Mike McCarthy’s arrival has kicked off a culture that is different from that of Mike Tomlin’s, which he had built over nearly two decades. What Rodgers couldn’t do out of respect for the former head coach last season might be possible under McCarthy’s regime.

You see, people know Rodgers as an oversharer. He tends to be a little bit like Tom Holland, who is notorious for having loose lips. The QB built that reputation with his frequent appearances on The Pat McAfee Show. But Tomlin’s hold on the locker room had Rodgers skipping the show for the entirety of last season. Now, with Tomlin gone and Rodgers returning, there is a chance the quarterback can resume his appearances and his controversial takes on the show. However, there are still some elements in the Steelers staff that won’t like to see this. 

Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner wrote on May 18 that things like this might be cool with Mike McCarthy in the building. He is known to be more approachable by the media, but Mike Tomlin was not. With a lot of the coaching staff now replaced, the latter’s culture of being tight-lipped to the press might fade away in the locker room. But Lerner pointed out that the front office remains largely unchanged, and one person in particular can still stand as a roadblock between Rodgers and his return to the Pat McAfee Show.

“Last year, Rodgers alluded to Steelers communications director Burt Lauten as the person who manages media availability for players. Lauten remains with the team as the Steelers’ head of communications. Whether Rodgers’ media appearances are solely at Lauten’s discretion or the quarterback was simply trying to be coy and deflect blame from Tomlin putting the kibosh on the McAfee appearances is unclear.”

The reason why the Steelers might intervene, even if Mike McCarthy is okay with this, is that Rodgers tends to dig a grave for himself. Rodgers claimed on The Pat McAfee Show that he had been “immunized” by COVID-19 in 2021, and fired shots at linebacker Haason Reddick’s agent, who might have revealed details of the Jets’ locker room culture to The Athletic.

Rodgers also said on The Pat McAfee Show last year, before the season began, that 2025 will be his last.

But Lauten’s control over who says what to the media is real. Last year, McAfee himself had asked general manager Omar Khan if the Steelers would let Aaron Rodgers continue being on the show. The GM said that Lauten had to give the green light for it.

There is already a lot of attention on the Steelers right now, with Aaron Rodgers now officially becoming a part of the team. It would be natural for the management to hold the QB back from situations that could unnecessarily worsen the status quo. When Rodgers tends to spread his wings a little bit on the show, it tends to backfire on all parties involved.

Pat McAfee was happy with Aaron Rodgers stepping away from the Tuesday specials

Pat McAfee has been in hot water many times because of Aaron Rodgers. In 2024, he invited more scrutiny than needed by wildly claiming late-night icon Jimmy Kimmel would be named in the Epstein files. It went badly for Rodgers, since Kimmel was not in the first batch of the files released. The popular talk show shost himself fired back at the QB, calling him an “Aa—–e.” Others from the media had also criticized the Pat McAfee Show.

McAfee acted quickly and announced soon after that Rodgers would not be returning to the show. He said that they “messed up in that particular aspect,” and that one has to “deal with the consequences of [their] freedom of speech.” The host also added that he was “pumped” that Rodgers was not going to return.

However, the QB was back only a day later. But that was mostly because Aaron Rodgers was apparently the last person Bill Belichick had spoken to on the field as a head coach. The QB was asked to share thoughts about his relationship with the veteran coach, but McAfee made sure to address the fiasco that had occurred.

“We were getting absolutely killed,” McAfee said. “[Do] you know how many thing I’ve been through with Aaron Rodgers? Yeah, I was not pumped to be put in the middle of that.”

Situations like these are exactly what the Steelers would want to stay clear of this year. It is presumed to be Aaron Rodgers‘ last dance, and the team wants to go to the Super Bowl while he’s at it. The fewer the controversies, the better.