Cardinals Player Calls for Aaron Rodgers to Join Team: Would He Be a Good Fit?

Another year, another offseason of waiting on Aaron Rodgers to make up his mind about his NFL future.

Last year, the four-time MVP waited until June to officially announce that he’d be joining the Steelers on a one-year deal. Pittsburgh thought they’d hear from the quarterback before the NFL draft, but when Rodgers remained silent, the team placed the right of first refusal tag on him. The move allows Pittsburgh to match any offer sheet that Rodgers should sign with another team, and would also give them a compensatory pick if he ultimately leaves.

Could Rodgers choose to land elsewhere for the 2026 season? That’s always a possibility, even if it seems unlikely that a team would willingly want to sign a 42-year-old quarterback. But, it sounds like there’s interest at least from some players across the league, like Cardinals receiver Kendrick Bourne.

On Tuesday, Bourne tweeted directly at Rodgers calling for the quarterback to land with Arizona.

“@AaronRodgers12 Come on we waiting on you,” Bourne tweeted, with eyeball emojis and a smiling face.

If Rodgers accepted Bourne’s request, then he would be joining a pretty new quarterback room in Arizona after the Cardinals decided to release the longtime starting quarterback Kyler Murray. New Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur hasn’t determined a QB1 for the 2026 season, so the job is anyone’s right now. Maybe Rodgers is intrigued by this.

Would Rodgers be a good fit for the Cardinals?

Right now, the Cardinals’ quarterback room consists of rookie Carson Beck, who was drafted in the third round a couple weeks ago, veteran Jacoby Brissett, entering his second season in Arizona, and Gardner Minshew II, who signed a one-year deal with the Cardinals this offseason. Adding Rodgers to the mix would force one of these quarterbacks out.

Rodgers would likely win the starting role if he landed in Arizona and become a mentor of sorts for rookie Beck. However, Rodgers would be considered for the starting role for nearly every team that needs a starting quarterback, including the Steelers. The Cardinals aren’t considered a playoff contender for 2026, so if Rodgers does want to explore other options, he’d likely look at playing somewhere he could reach the postseason in a final hurrah. It’s questionable if the Steelers have a good chance this upcoming season with a new coach in Mike McCarthy, but Rodgers would be better suited returning to Pittsburgh for a second year than starting fresh in Arizona.

Rodgers’s coaching connections in Arizona

The quarterback’s already competed for one of the LaFleur brothers by working with Matt in Green Bay for four seasons. Because of his experience with the Packers head coach, there could very well be a similar connection made with Mike LaFleur down in Arizona.

The biggest pull for Rodgers, though, would likely be working with OC Nathaniel Hackett again. Hackett served as Rodgers’s offensive coordinator in Green Bay for three seasons near the tail end of the quarterback’s tenure there, and then again with the Jets for the two seasons Rodgers was in New York. It’s clear the quarterback values working with Hackett, and this could be his last chance to before retiring. But is that enough of a reason to play for the Cardinals? Probably not.

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Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University.

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