Aaron Rodgers did pretty well in 2025, considering the circumstances in his first year with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He now heads into his second year in Pittsburgh, which will be the last of his NFL career as he confirmed earlier this week. And according to Warren Sharp, a predictive NFL analytics and visualized data analyst, Rodgers will face one of the most difficult schedules of any quarterback in the league.
Sharp laid out the challenging road ahead for Rodgers in a tweet posted this week.
in Aaron Rodgers final NFL season, he will face the #3 toughest schedule of pass defenses
this includes 5 games vs top-4 pass defenses from last year:
#1 Texans
#2 Browns x 2
#3 Eagles
#4 Broncosplus the Ravens with new defensive focus from the top & the Bengals improved unit pic.twitter.com/9CqJ4duU5I
Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) May 20, 2026
Sharp notes that some of the toughest matchups are against Houston, Denver, Philadelphia and Cleveland twice. Those are all some talented defensive units. And the division should be tough for Rodgers again in 2026. He went 4-2 against the AFC North last year, but many of those matchups were close.
Cleveland did pretty well to limit the Steelers offensively in 2025. The Browns beat Pittsburgh in Week 17, and while they lost in Week 6, those issues were more because of their feckless offense. Baltimore played the Steelers tough, as always, but Rodgers actually had some of his better games against the Ravens. But with a new defensive-minded head coach in town, that unit could improve in Baltimore. Even Cincinnati added some talent to its secondary.
The Steelers have they’ve put enough talent around Rodgers that the schedule won’t matter. He had his limitations last year, but he’ll have more help out wide. Michael Pittman Jr. and Germie Bernard figure to be a sizeable upgrade in talent, and if Roman Wilson can step up it will be even better. There’s a lot of youth, and more depth, along the offensive line. And the Steelers made a lateral move at the very least in swapping Kenneth Gainwell for Rico Dowdle.
Compared to his former offensive coordinator, who’s now at the collegiate level, Rodgers should have an upgraded scheme. He’s running an offense he knows better than anyone else with Mike McCarthy. The Steelers still have a ways to go before people consider them true contenders, but there are some upgrades that could help them meet the challenges of the difficult schedule.
But it’s going to be tough for Aaron Rodgers regardless. There are some really difficult defenses he’s going to face. And once again the Steelers face a difficult back half of the schedule. We’ll see if Rodgers has what it takes to author a storybook ending to his career.
