NFL Insider Tom Pelissero Talks Stafford, Rodgers & AJ Brown & More with Rich

Tom Pelissero closed the show's week with three updates on three of the league's most-watched stories. The AJ Brown trade timeline. The Matthew Stafford extension. The Aaron Rodgers final-season announcement. All three, in Pelissero's read, sit on the same arc. Players and franchises trying to control timing the league has otherwise made unforgiving.

Start with AJ Brown. Pelissero confirmed the Patriots remain the most likely landing spot. June 1 is the trigger date, when cap rules shift in the Eagles' favor for splitting Brown's dead-cap hit across multiple years.

"In the past several weeks, from what I've understood, there have not been much if any communication between the sides," Pelissero said. He expects re-engagement to start next week. The trade math is well understood. The market just needs to wake back up after the offseason quiet.

Pelissero added the standard caveat. Howie Roseman could extend the timeline indefinitely if the offer is not what he wants. Brown will not be on the field in Philadelphia regardless. The team has an understanding with Brown that he stays away during voluntary activities, and Pelissero said the Eagles would likely excuse him from mandatory mini-camp if a trade is still pending.

Then the Stafford extension. Pelissero called the deal exactly what it is, a one-year, $55 million tack-on that earns up to $60 million with incentives. It does not give Stafford a meaningful 2026 raise. It does give the Rams flexibility against a 2027 cap cliff that would have accelerated proration from prior restructurings.

"I wouldn't say this is a sea change," Pelissero said. The team and the player both wanted certainty before training camp. The extension provides it without locking Stafford into 2027 or pricing him out of a renegotiation.

"All options still on the table for 2027," Pelissero said.

The third update was the most interesting because it was about a sentence Aaron Rodgers chose to say in front of cameras. Earlier in the week, asked directly whether 2026 was his final year, Rodgers said yes.

Pelissero pulled the curtain back on why.

"Aaron Rodgers never says anything accidentally," Pelissero said. "Whether he is telling people to R-E-L-A-X a decade ago, whether he is calling out teammates, whether he is making certain points. Everything that he says has a reason behind it."

The reason, in Pelissero's read, is locker room messaging.

"By saying yeah, this is it, this also puts the rest of that locker room on notice. I need everything out of all of you because this is it. This is the last run."

Pelissero argued that Rodgers, who has spoken many times in the past about the motivation older players carry into final seasons, is now intentionally choosing to broadcast his finality. The audience is partly the public. The actual audience is the Steelers' veteran-heavy locker room.

"He means it so that everybody in that locker room hears it," Pelissero said. "This is it, guys. 2026 is my final year. I am not back for money, I'm not back for publicity, I'm back to win it all right now. So whatever you got, leave it all on the field."

The reunion with Mike McCarthy, in Pelissero's framing, is part of what makes the move work. Rodgers has the scheme he wants. He has a head coach who has built around him before. He has a roster of veterans who have been added throughout the offseason precisely for a real run. He has the message he needs the locker room to hear.

"This is all about Rodgers trying to create this beautiful ending he didn't feel like he got in New York," Pelissero said. "He didn't feel like he got it his first year in Pittsburgh."

He also addressed the obvious comparison. This is not a Derek Jeter-style farewell tour. The NFL does not have the gift-at-every-stop tradition baseball does. The message Rodgers wants delivered is internal, not ceremonial.

The Steelers, in Pelissero's read, will be a relevant football team this fall. The internal alignment is now built in. Whether Rodgers actually retires after this season, Pelissero allowed, is still subject to Rodgers's well-documented capacity to change his mind. But the public version of the finality is now in the room.

Whatever happens, the locker room has been told.