EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsLATROBE, Pa. -- As he reported to his 22nd NFL training camp Tuesday morning, quarterback Aaron Rodgers affirmed that there's "zero doubt" 2026 is his last season playing football, even as at least one of his Pittsburgh teammates wondered aloud whether Rodgers might change his mind."I thought last year might be it," Rodgers said after the Pittsburgh Steelers' conditioning test, echoing the same sentiment he expressed in May that the 2026 season would be his last. "And then Mike [McCarthy] got hired, and I talked to the wife and she said, 'You can do one more year.' I said, 'Well, see if it works out.' And then it kind of all came together."Wide receiver DK Metcalf, though, said he wasn't ruling anything out when it comes to Rodgers."I mean, people just say things at the beginning of the year, not knowing how a year could go," Metcalf said, speaking to local media just prior to Rodgers' podium session. "He may not even get hit or touched this year and may say, 'Hey, let's go out there and do another one.' So, I mean, it just puts a weight off his back. He's just out there playing free, enjoying possibly his last year with his teammates, with a couple of close friends that he's made over the past two years."I think it's just a lot of weight off his shoulders right now. He's just going out there playing free."But Rodgers dismissed the idea that he might decide to come back for another season after this year."No," the four-time MVP said, shaking his head. "Zero debate. Zero."For McCarthy, the opportunity to coach Rodgers in his final season after also coaching him for 13 seasons in Green Bay, beginning in Rodgers' second NFL season in 2005, is meaningful."Obviously known him since the beginning," McCarthy said. "When you get to that point in life and you get into the fourth quarter of a career, you do reflect. ... I think the biggest thing is where he's at in life. And I've watched him grow both personally and professionally, and his personal life is growing. And this is such a selfish, selfish profession. ... I'm sure where he's at, 42, he's having a lot of thoughts about where he is personally."... It's special. Yeah, there's no doubt about it. Trust me, that's not lost on me. Every day. I think it's super cool that I get to line up with him one more time."Despite the finality of this season, Rodgers said it doesn't feel any different moving back into the dorms at St. Vincent College for his last training camp."I thought it might," Rodgers said. "Last year it felt way more dramatic to me. Like it's my last arrival to training camp. And this year it doesn't feel anything. I really don't -- I'm just happy to be out here with the guys. Good to see some of their faces I haven't seen in a while. Good to see the six guys that went on the trip with us again. I feel like there's like a tighter bond. They'll have to bring in some of the other guys who weren't at that trip, but it was good."After hosting teammates in Malibu during his first offseason, Rodgers and a group of his pass catchers including Metcalf and fellow receivers Michael Pittman Jr. and Roman Wilson went on a four-day trip to a ranch during their summer break. The group opted to go to a ranch instead of back to Malibu because they wanted to do an "experience.""I said, 'OK, what are you talking about? Do you want to go to Hawaii or something?,' Rodgers said, relaying their spring conversation. "They said, 'No, we want to go to the mountains. We want to do a ranch thing.' So I did a lot of research and found a couple places and then this place came available, and we're very thankful to the person that made that happen."Between the trip and a full year with Rodgers, Metcalf said his communication with the quarterback is well ahead of where it was this time a year ago. The two are suitemates in the dorms at St. Vincent College for the second year in a row, and Metcalf helped Rodgers unpack his car when the quarterback arrived late Monday night."Since he was 50 years old and I was 10, we were kind of like trying to get used to the dynamic of everything," Metcalf said of last season. "He was in a new place. I was in a new place. I think right now, our communication is far beyond where it was last year when we first got to camp. He was at a couple OTA practices, so was I."I think we're just leaps ahead of the communication aspect, how we view each other, how we communicate on and off the field right now. That was the biggest step, the biggest difference that I seen from last year. And I think it's just only going to continue to grow."
