RandBall: Aaron Rodgers talked about the Vikings, but mostly he talked about himself

My sense is that Aaron Rodgers and I don’t have a lot in common, but there is one thing at least: We both can’t stop talking about Aaron Rodgers.

The former Jets quarterback returned to the safe haven of “The Pat McAfee Show” this week to make his first public comments since being released last month.

That means that during a nearly 45-minute segment, Rodgers had a lot of ground to cover and did confirm that he has had discussions with various teams — including the Vikings — about playing in 2025.

Rodgers labeled as “not accurate” a theory former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger brought up on McAfee’s show a couple of weeks back: that Rodgers hasn’t made a decision about his future because he is holding out for the Vikings.

Rodgers said discussions with the Vikings sprouted mostly from his relationship with Kevin O’Connell, corroborating what O’Connell said recently.

“I’ve known Kevin forever. I’ve known Kevin O’Connell since we used to work out at Fitness Quest 10, I think it was called, in San Diego County,” Rodgers said. “I’ve known him for 17, 18 years, and we’ve got a good friendship. So we talk outside of just this offseason, we keep in touch during the season. So we’ve had good communication.”

Rodgers’ video feed froze up after that, and he never really returned to talking about the Vikings when it came unstuck.

But that just gave him more time to talk about himself, which took up the bulk of the interview (as it often does).

If you were a Vikings fan or Steelers fan hoping for some clarity on Rodgers’ future, you were out of luck, as I talked about on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast.

Even the poor folks running McAfee’s YouTube page seemed stumped with how to summarize the visit.

Headline: Aaron Rodgers Leaves Door Open To Playing, Seemingly With Steelers, Or Potentially Retiring.

Glad we cleared that up!

The last month-plus since free agency started has left us basically nowhere beyond where we started.

“I wasn’t stringing anyone along. I wasn’t holding anyone hostage,” Rodgers said of a process that has crept along. “I was honest from the jump about where I was at mentally and some of the constraints I have in my life right now that warrant my attention. I’m open to anything and attached to nothing.”

The Vikings have signaled they are going with second-year QB J.J. McCarthy, though they have not signed a complementary veteran QB and probably won’t until after the draft so as to not influence the number of compensatory picks they will get in 2026.

The Steelers remain the team with the clearest need, while the Giants have moved on by adding Russell Wilson.

“I’ve talked to Mike Tomlin,” said Rodgers, who also spent a lot of his appearance trashing the Jets for how they handled his departure. “He’s more than I even thought from afar, as far as the type of person he is. I have a lot of respect for what he’s accomplished in the league.”

But he hasn’t signed with the Steelers.

Maybe Big Ben is right and Rodgers is holding out for the Vikings. Maybe we’ll still be playing this game in July.

Maybe it’s all just giving Rodgers more opportunities to talk about his favorite subject.