Newly re-signed quarterback Aaron Rodgers got a raise with the Steelers from his 2025 to 2026 seasons, but this time around, his incentives are based almost entirely on playoff wins.
In a new report from NFL insider Jordan Schultz, if Rodgers plays 75% of regular season snaps in 2026, he will earn an additional $625,000 each for wins in the Wild Card round, Divisional round, AFC Championship, and Super Bowl, totaling a $2.5 million incentive package.
As the Steelers didn’t win a playoff game in the 2025-26 season, those incentives will be deemed not likely to be earned, meaning they won’t count against the Steelers’ salary cap in 2026.
Schultz’s report lines up with an earlier Adam Schefter post that put the veteran quarterback’s base salary “between $22 and $23 million” in a contract worth up to $25 million.
While the complete details of Rodgers’ deal haven’t been announced yet, we can pencil in some numbers with the understanding that some more details about guarantees or structure could potentially still be out there.
An estimated $22.5 base salary (and cap hit) in 2026 would tie Rodgers with Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis as the 17th-highest paid quarterback in the league in terms of yearly average, in between the Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield $33.3 million average and the Raiders’ Fernando Mendoza’s $14.3 million.
Rodgers’ projected cap hit would also sit at 16th-highest among quarterbacks in 2026, using Spotrac’s ranking.
Cap websites still have Rodgers’ deal as a one-year, $15,015,000 contract due to the UFA tender the team placed on the quarterback in late April. Expect those numbers to update soon.
Per Over the Cap, the Steelers currently have $7,214,977 available in top-51 cap space with Rodgers’ old UFA tender cap number. His new deal should push the team right up to the limit, even though Pittsburgh still has plenty of time to make additional moves before the start of the regular season to free up more space.
Rodgers told the media Wednesday he plans to retire after the 2026 NFL season.
