Steelers haven't decided on Aaron Rodgers' preseason workload, Mike McCarthy says

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers could see more snaps during the team's preseason games than originally expected.

While speaking to Mike Silver of The Athletic, Rodgers said head coach Mike McCarthy wanted the veteran quarterback on the field for "30 or 40 plays."

"I said, 'Mike, if you want me to play, I'll play.' I'm not saying I want to do it. But if he wants me to, I will," Rodgers explained.

McCarthy then clarified some of what Rodgers said while meeting with reporters on Monday.

"Well, I mean, those decisions are really going to be made once you get up to it. Trust me, I have a lot of ideas. We have plans, but being a healthy system, let's see what happens," McCarthy said. "He'd like to play, I'd like to see him play, but we won't make that decision until we get all the way up to it. There's more that goes into that [than] just having one player play. It's the combination of players."

Devoting such a large chunk of preseason snaps to the 42-year-old would be unusual, as Pittsburgh also has two young,  inexperienced quarterbacks on the roster in second-year player Will Howard and rookie Drew Allar, plus veteran Mason Rudolph.

While there is no competition for the starting quarterback role, there are only so many snaps to go around between the remaining three signal-callers during training camp and the preseason to determine who Rodgers' backup will be.

Rodgers' last preseason action came while playing with the New York Jets in the 2023 preseason finale. He did not see any snaps during the 2024 or 2025 preseason.

The Steelers' first two preseason games are against Rodgers' former teams, the Green Bay Packers and the Jets.