Why Steelers leaving ‘door open’ for Aaron Rodgers return may mean less than you think
INDIANAPOLIS — As Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan prepared to address media at the NFL scouting combine on Tuesday, the flashbacks hit.
Only two years ago, as the Steelers finished their second season with a bottom-10 offense led by quarterback Kenny Pickett, a reporter asked Khan: Did he have full faith in Pickett entering Year 3?
“We have — I have full faith in Kenny,” Khan said Feb. 29, 2024. “He’s shown us some good things, and obviously there were some issues with the offense. And I’m excited about the impact that Arthur Smith’s going to have on him.
“Arthur’s very optimistic about Kenny. I know they’ve communicated and said we’ll have some strong competition there and see where it goes.”
Less than two weeks later, the Steelers signed quarterback Justin Fields. Kenny Pickett was a Philadelphia Eagle by March 15 and Russell Wilson a Steeler by March 29.
Sure, Khan had indicated the club would invite “strong competition.” Even so, the general manager’s “full faith” endorsement rang hollow in near-record time.
So as Khan fielded questions this week about the future of four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers, it was worth asking: How much should fans take his words at face value?
The Steelers signed Rodgers last season to a one-year deal after Rodgers wanted to play for longtime head coach Mike Tomlin. Rodgers completed 65.7% of his passes for 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions while leading the Steelers to a playoff berth and home wild-card loss. When Tomlin stepped down days later, team owner Art Rooney II said “Aaron came here to play for Mike, so I think it will most likely affect his decision.”
Clarity has not yet arrived.
Khan expressed interest Tuesday in Rodgers returning for a second season.
“The door’s open to have Aaron back,” Khan said. “I’ve had conversations with him. I spoke to him last week. Mike McCarthy has spoke to him, and he knows how we feel about him. Right now we’re proceeding [like] he’s a free agent and he’s on the roster.
“But he knows how we feel about him.”
Will that lead to a reunion?
Khan’s Rodgers-specific comments seemed to indicate that the ball was in Rodgers’ court. A return would mean not only a reunion for Rodgers and his 2024 team, but also a reunion for Rodgers and his 13-year Green Bay Packers head coach in McCarthy. That track record and deep understanding could sway Rodgers.
But the Steelers can’t afford to wait.
If Rodgers isn’t Pittsburgh’s 2026 QB1, who might be?
In hiring McCarthy rather than an up-and-coming talent, Rooney made clear that he’s not interested in a rebuild. He wants to win now. That necessitates a quarterback.
The Steelers selected Ohio State’s Will Howard in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, but a fractured finger in his throwing hand limited Howard’s exposure. The 2026 NFL Draft is widely considered shallow at quarterback, while the 2027 class allures personnel executives. That combination could further increase the Steelers’ desire for Rodgers to serve another season as bridge, or could prompt Pittsburgh to give Howard the keys with an understanding that higher-end talent is one year out.
“Like all the fans, we’re all searching for the next franchise player,” Khan said. “[The] guy who’s going to be our quarterback for 10 to 15 years, and it might be Will. We don’t know…
“Unfortunately he got hurt and we didn’t get a chance to see him in preseason, but we’ve watched his progression in practice and it’s been exciting. I know the new coaching staff, specifically Coach McCarthy, is excited to work with him.”
A free agent quarterback could be in the mix for Pittsburgh, too.
Khan spoke multiple times Tuesday about the “flexibility” the Steelers have while not paying a quarterback top dollar. But even paying a pending free agent like Green Bay’s Malik Willis around $30 million per year would still be well below the 11 league quarterbacks making north of $50 million per year. The Steelers pursued Sam Darnold last offseason when Minnesota let him walk and he ultimately signed with the Seattle Seahawks, a person with knowledge of the pursuit told Yahoo Sports. That strategy could suggest that Pittsburgh is willing to pay for what executives view as the “middle-class” quarterback rather than only developmental prospects, if Rodgers does not return.
Khan was asked Tuesday whether Rodgers’ free-agent decision had narrowed only to the Steelers and retirement, or whether the 42-year-old would consider playing his 22nd season with another team.
“That’s a question for Aaron,” Khan said. “I mean, he knows how we feel and I think we knows he feels about us. It was a good experience for both sides. Unfortunately we didn’t reach our goals on winning the games that we wanted to win at the end, but there’s a mutual respect there.”
Khan said he doesn’t expect the waiting game to last until June as the Steelers’ pursuit of Rodgers did a year ago.
“The circumstances are a little different,” Khan said. “But just conversations we had, I think neither side wants to have this drag on like it did last year.”
With free agency looming, a decision from Rodgers would allow the Steelers to fully understand their options before quarterbacks like Willis, the Arizona Cardinals’ Kyler Murray and the Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa find their new homes. The Atlanta Falcons confirmed Tuesday they’re releasing veteran Kirk Cousins and not re-signing him, which will influence the quarterback supply-demand puzzle. But signing Cousins for a lower-end version of what Rodgers did in 2025 seems illogical.
Instead, the Steelers will continue posturing that they’re waiting for Rodgers and leaving the door open for his return. Their conversations in free agency, and perhaps even their 30 visits for the draft, may tell another story.
Are the Steelers really homing in on Rodgers and Rodgers alone for their 2026 quarterback?
Perhaps fans shouldn’t have full faith.
NBA Highlights: Pelicans 113, Warriors 109
Nets player grades after 123-114 loss to the Mavericks
NEW YORK -- The Brooklyn Nets (15-42) had some unexpected travel issues affecting them with the blizzard that New York City was hit with over the weekend. Brooklyn had to fly back to the Big Apple early on Tuesday, but the Dallas Mavericks (21-36) had to do the same thing. However, the Nets just couldn't make the necessary plays to end their losing streak at home.
The Nets lost to the Mavericks on Tuesday 123-114 in a matchup where Brooklyn never allowed the game to get into blowout territory, but they also couldn't put themselves in a position to tie the game. Forward Michael Porter Jr. had 26 points and three assists while forward Noah Clowney had one of his best games of the season with 22 points and five rebounds of his own.
Dallas did not have the services of Cooper Flagg or Kyrie Irving, but they had forward Marvin Bagley III going off for 22 points and five rebounds off the bench to complement forward Naji Marshall's 21 points and seven assists. The Nets have one more left left on their home stint on Thursday against the San Antonio Spurs, but for now, here are the Nets player grades after Tuesday's loss to the Mavericks:
Nolan Traore: B+
Traore had some shooting struggles in this game as he couldn't make it good on some of the long-range looks he saw against an exploitable Mavericks defense. Aside from that, Traore did a good job of finishing around the rim and in the mid-range and more importantly, he did a great job of passing the ball and setting up his teammates without turning the ball over.
Egor Demin: C-
Demin struggled mightily with his shot in this one as he couldn't get anything to fall from the perimeter despite getting some open looks. Demin has been lights-out shooting the three-pointer this season, but he hasn't had his shot falling as of late, exposing some of his flaws in making more of an impact when the rookie isn't feeling it from deep.
Michael Porter Jr.: B
Porter did a great job scoring against the Mavericks despite most of his shots being at least somewhat-defended, but it looked like he was comfortable on the offensive end during the entire game. Porter strangely wasn't particularly involved in the rebounding portion of the game, but outside of that, he did a great job of being efficient with his offensive touches.
Noah Clowney: A
Clowney had one of his best games of the season and it was because of how aggressive he was attacking the rim and being confident while shooting the ball from the perimeter. Clowney has had some extended shooting ruts this season, but this was one game where he showed his entire package when his shot is falling and he's engaged on both ends of the floor.
Nic Claxton: B+
Claxton had a tough matchup going against Daniel Gafford and Marvin Bagley III, but he did what he could to mitigate the production given up to Dallas' frontcourt over the course of the game. Claxton did a great job of scoring in the paint along with setting up his teammates with some slick passes within the structure of Brooklyn's offense.
Danny Wolf: D
Wolf struggled with his shot overall as he couldn't get much to fall from the perimeter and the Mavericks' defense didn't give him many opportunities to attack the rim. Wolf was solid on the glass during his time on the floor, but he struggled with turnovers when he was trying to create something for himself or his teammates in the open floor.
Day'Ron Sharpe: C-
Sharpe has had better days finishing around the rim as it seemed he had some difficulty finishing with the likes of Gafford and Bagley lurking around in the paint. Sharpe struggled with turnovers and fouls during his stints off the bench, but he will bounce back with some encouraging performances as the season continues.
Terance Mann: B+
Mann was mostly quiet through the first three quarters of this game, but he woke up in the fourth quarter as he seemingly couldn't miss from anywhere on the floor. Mann has done a great job this season of being the steady veteran presence on the court and in the locker room, but this matchup reminded onlookers that he still has plenty of gas in the tank.
Ochai Agbaji: B
Agbaji, as he has done since being acquired by the Nets via trade heading into the deadline, did a great job of spreading the floor during his bench minutes. Agbaji has proven to be one of the better shooters on the team since his arrival and if he can combine that with his juice on the defensive end of the floor, he could solidify his place in the rotation.
Drake Powell: C-
Powell saw some significant playing time against the Mavericks, but he didn't make much of an impact in the game on either end of the floor. Powell has the ability to be a difference-maker on both ends of the court, but he is still learning how to be that guy for the Nets. It looks like he's on the right track and that's what Brooklyn wants to see over the rest of the season.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets player grades after 123-114 loss to the Mavericks
Lamar Jackson, Kyle Van Noy sound off on NFL's admission of errors in Steelers-Ravens game
The Week 14 Ravens-Steelers game featured multiple mistakes by the officials. At the time, the NFL admitted one. Today, the league admitted another.
The third was apparently admitted, until it wasn't.
For starters, the league admitted after the game that an unnecessary roughness penalty called on defensive tackle Travis Jones was not a foul. On Tuesday, the NFL confirmed to PFT that the decision to use replay review to reverse a Ravens interception by linebacker Teddye Buchanan into a catch by Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was an error.
Along the way, the league did — then didn’t — say that the controversial touchdown catch by Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely was incorrectly overturned to an incompletion. The NFL's official position continues to be that the decision was accurate. (We still believe it was a catch, with the replay process focusing on whether Likely took a third step and ignoring the other ways to complete the process.)
Multiple Ravens players have noticed today's developments. Said quarterback Lamar Jackson on Twitter, "So technically we won? 10-7. 1st offseason win ever."
Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy had more to add.
"Have we ever seen the NFL come out months after a game has been played (a couple weeks after the entire nfl season finished) and admitted they didn’t get 1 huge crucial call in the biggest NFL rivalry game," Van Noy tweeted. "But they got 2 Crucial calls in same Game wrong!!! So the total was 3 horrible calls in 1 game…. That's insane! 1. INT Rodgers , 2. Likely touchdown , and 3. Travis Jones 15 yarder on field goal (they came out with this Tuesday after the game saying they got it wrong). Wow !!!! Accountability kinda sorta not really but something kinda… We need some sort of action now because this can not happen at the highest level. I understand 1 but 3????? Smh."
SMH indeed. The mistakes directly impacted the outcome of a key AFC North game, and may have directly impacted the division championship, with the Steelers and not the Ravens advancing to the postseason.
Joe Gibbs Racing is now suing Spire and Chris Gabehart
Joe Gibbs Racing has amended its lawsuit against Chris Gabehart and has now extended those claims against Spire Motorsports while also asking the Western District of North Carolina to enforce a restraining order to prevent the pairing from continue working together.
Spire Motorsports confirmed over the weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway that it has hired Gabehart, a longtime engineer turned crew chief and one year competition director at Joe Gibbs Racing, to serve as Chief Motorsports Officer.
JGR sued Gabehart last week -- alleging a violation of non-compete agreements and a ‘brazen scheme’ to steal proprietary competition trade secrets and take it with him to Spire when overtures for a de facto promotion were declined by team owner Joe Gibbs.
Joe Gibbs Racing claim that Gabehart created a folder titled ‘Spire’ from his work computer and synced the information within the team’s database to his personal Google Drive. The team claims Gabehart took photos of set-up information on his personal phone for the purpose of taking it with him to Spire.
It accused Gabehart of accessing JGR’s database even on a day in which he met with Spire Motorsports team co-owner Jeff Dickerson. Through the first week of the litigation, JGR had not named Spire as a defendant but did so on Tuesday night with the amended filing.
The new claims against Spire are detailed below, exact quotes from the filing, italicized for clarity:
“Spire knowingly, intentionally, unjustifiably, and in bad faith induced Gabehart to breach his contract with JGR by (1) soliciting and hiring him to work for Spire, and/or (2) requesting, encouraging, or otherwise inducing him to disclose or use Plaintiff’s trade secrets or confidential information.
“As a direct and proximate result of Spire’s misconduct, Plaintiff has suffered and continues to suffer damages in an amount to be proven at trial, and irreparable harm by way of, among other things, loss of competitive advantage, and loss of confidential information.”
As part of the expanded lawsuit, Joe Gibbs Racing is asking the court for a restraining order that prevents Gabehart from working at Spire Motorsports if in any capacity similar to that of his role as competition director last year but also deploying any ‘trade secrets’ acquired during his time with his previous employer. JGR is asking the court to force Gabehart to return any proprietary material he may have in his possession.
Joe Gibbs Racing states in the filings that it will suffer irreparable harm due to Gabehart and the alleged data he took with him to Spire being used to replicate their set-ups due to how competitively similar everyone’s NextGen cars are.
“Because all teams now race the same car and obtain car components from the same suppliers, understanding only a small portion of the details of how a competitor sets up its cars would allow other teams to extrapolate on that information and recreate a successful car setup.
“As a result, car setup, analytics, and race strategy have become increasingly important as competitive differentiators in NASCAR since the introduction of the NextGen car in 2022. This information is highly guarded.
“Consequently, such misuse, disclosure, or dissemination of JGR’s Confidential Information and Trade Secrets would result in impaired ability to compete, lost profits and business opportunities, and reputational harm, among other injuries.”
The complete amended filing can be found below with additional details below that.
JGR vs Gabehart, Spire by mattweavermedia
In filing the motion for injunctive relief and a restraining order, Joe Gibbs Racing also stated that neither Spire nor Gabehart are voluntarily consenting, and thus both will have to be issued by Judge Matthew Orso.
“Counsel for JGR has conferred with counsel for Gabehart concerning the relief requested in the Motion, and counsel for Gabehart has indicated Gabehart does not consent to the relief requested in the Motion. Similarly, JGR has conferred with Spire concerning the relief requested in the Motion, and Spire does not consent to the relief requested in the Motion.”
The restraining order and injunctive relief motion can be found below, with additional information below that.
2 24 2026 Restraining Order Motion by mattweavermedia
The amended complaint and restraining order motion also included written declarations from JGR competition director Wally Brown, who resumed the role he held before briefly turning it over to Gabehart last year but also chief financial officer Tim Carmichael.
The third declaration is from Clark C. Walton, a 'forensics expert for Reliance Forensics, and a licensed attorney who was retained by JGR for the Gabehart case and oversaw the analysis of the files that led to this lawsuit.
Walton said his firm observed the following Google search history
Additionally, Walton cited the following discoveries:
"Reliance also observed synced activity on the JGR Computer related to a Google Drive account associated with Gabehart's personal Gmail address. The Known Synced Google Drive appears to have been synced with the JGR Computer. The Known Synced Google Drive account contained a folder named 'Spire' which contained a subfolder named 'Past Setups.' Reliance did not access the contents of The Known Synced Google Drive account itself as part of its initial review of the JGR Computer. Reliance observed interactions with the Spire Folder on November 12, 13, 15, 23, 25, 26, 27 and December 2, 2025 as stated below. The Last Viewed Time shown on this report generally indicates that time that a folder on file was last opened."
Walton detailed alleged access of 'https://apps.jgrcloud.com/,' 'https://analytics.joegibbsracing.com,' 'https://joegibbsracing-my.sharepoint.com,' and 'https://trdhydra.toyota.com/,' in mid to late November.
The report details times that an unknown account and one account associated with what appears to be Gabehart's personal email address accessing JGR's database.
The full Walton declaration can be found below.
2 24 2026 Walton Declaration by mattweavermedia
Read Also:
Chris Gabehart 'emphatically denies' Joe Gibbs Racing lawsuit allegations
Joe Gibbs Racing also responded to Gabehart's statement that 'emphatically denied' the allegations.
“The statement was materially false and misleading. First, the forensic expert engaged by JGR confirmed that Defendant had taken JGR’s Confidential Information and Trade Secrets, including financial information Gabehart expressly denied taking on December 17, 2025.
“Second, the forensic expert informed Gabehart through his counsel that the review did not demonstrate Gabehart had not shared JGR’s Confidential Information and Trade Secrets with third parties or saved the materials Gabehart did take in different locations. Indeed the forensic review team noted that the review ‘did not exclude the possibility of [JGR] files being sent via email from a web portal, being sent via text message then deleted the message, shared directly via Google Photos or any other fileshare site.”
Gabehart has said he will file a response in the coming days.
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