Aaron Rodgers will not play in Steelers’ preseason finale Thursday

PITTSBURGH — Those eager to see Aaron Rodgers’ debut as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers will have to wait.

The 41-year-old quarterback won’t play in the team’s preseason finale Thursday at the Carolina Panthers, coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday. That puts him on track to get his first start as a Steeler at MetLife Stadium for the Week 1 matchup against the New York Jets.

Tomlin added that DK Metcalf, Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt also will not play vs. the Panthers.

Rodgers didn’t play a single snap in the Steelers’ preseason, similar to his 2024 approach with the Jets where he also didn’t play in the preseason. Rodgers last saw preseason action in 2023, when he played in one game and completed 5 of 8 attempts for 47 yards with a touchdown pass to WR Garrett Wilson against the New York Giants.

Asked Tuesday prior to Tomlin’s news conference if he was going to play Thursday, Rodgers deferred to his head coach.

“I’ll roll with whatever Mike decides,” he said.

Though he didn’t get any game action in the preseason, Rodgers got work against Tampa Bay’s starting defense in a joint practice last week.

Although the Steelers’ offense started out strong in the practice with a 6-1 win in the “Seven Shots” drill, scoring on six of seven attempts, Rodgers’ unit failed to move the ball in the practice-ending two-minute drill.

“Failure is always best this time of year to learn from and to be able to let the coaches go through and let us go through it,” Rodgers said, adding that there was a “lot” of film to correct.

“I thought we started practice really well in the seven shots. Then they kind of got after us in the team run with very correctable things … The thing I loved is that there wasn’t fans there, so they felt comfortable bringing a lot of different pressures. I thought it was good work for us in the protection game especially.”