Steelers' Mike Tomlin finally reveals when he knew Aaron Rodgers planned to sign with Pittsburgh

While Aaron Rodgers didn't officially sign with the Steelers until June 7, Mike Tomlin had known for months that the four-time league MVP would be joining his team for the 2025 season. 

Pittsburgh's coach recently acknowledged that he knew Rodgers was signing with the Steelers prior to this year's NFL draft, which is one of the reasons why the team opted not to select a quarterback with the 21st pick. Rodgers visited the Steelers' facility on March 21, and while he didn't leave Pittsburgh with a contract, the seeds were apparently planted for a future partnership. 

Tomlin's admission came after he was asked about his desire to align with Rodgers for what will likely be the final year of the 41-year-old quarterback's career. 

"You know, this dude's been doing it 21 years," Tomlin said on The Pivot Podcast. "Man, four-time MVP, all of that stuff. I just wanted to know why. Why does the fire still burn? What is his agenda? Those are some of the conversations that we had in the spring, and I just got real comfortable with his 'why.' 

"All he wants to do is win. All he wants to do is have fun within the game. He wanted to be a component of the process of development for young players. Everything that we talked about through our conversations in the spring, I'm watching him live out right now in this training camp setting. I believed him when he said it, but it's fun to watch it play out. I think that's why I'm excited. I think that's why I was comfortable. And you're right, I knew something."

What Tomlin "knew" is that Rodgers would join his team even as Rodgers waited to officially put pen to paper until just before the start of minicamp. Despite the outside noise from fans and media members who questioned whether or not Rodgers would actually join the Steelers, Tomlin apparently knew all along that he had his guy.  

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The wait has apparently paid off for both Tomlin and Rodgers, who has had nothing but good things to say about his new coach.  

"Mike T is the man. Any hate, disrespect and the ilk is complete and utter bulls---," Rodgers recently said on The Pat McAfee Show. "Mike T is the man. From Day 1 that we talked on the phone in the offseason, I was never talking to a head coach. I was talking to a friend. I respected the hell out of that. 

"The way that he leads the room, the way that he talks in the team meeting, the way he is in practice. The surprise has been, just, what a great dude he is, what a great leader he is, on top of what I already expected, which was already high based on what I thought from afar, but being able to see it in person is incredible."