If being happy and fulfilled helps a person at work, Aaron Rodgers is clearly setting the table for a good final NFL season as his strained relationship with his parents appears to be healing.
Rodgers and his parents have been estranged for nearly a dozen years and perhaps longer.
But on Monday evening, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback posted new photos of himself with his mother Darla Rodgers and father Ed Rodgers on Instagram.
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And there was a lot of happiness visible in the snapshot.
In one photo, Rodgers is seen with his arm around his mother as she embraces him with both arms. Both are smiling looking at the camera.
In the next photo, Rodgers and his father can be seen standing together, smiling, with their hands on each other’s back.
“Another bonding week,” Rodgers wrote.
And then she added the hashtag “#Fam.”
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers listens to head coach Mike McCarthy during an NFL practice on May 20, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)
This is nothing.
The rift between Rodgers and his parents has been one of the NFL’s most talked-about family stories, despite the fact that neither the quarterback nor his parents have ever pointed to a significant cause of the problem.
Much of the reporting is based on family members, friends, former partners, and Rodgers’ own observations over time. All of them have sometimes been used to portray Rodgers in a certain way – usually as aloof or arrogant in articles that were generally unpleasant.
Ed told The New York Times several years ago that the family stopped communicating with Rodgers around 2014.
“It’s complicated,” he said of the cause.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers looks on after being sacked during the first half of the NFL Wild Card game against the Houston Texans at Acclaim Stadium on January 12, 2026 in Pittsburgh, PA. (Michael Longo/USA TODAY Network-PA/via Image Images for USA TODAY Network)
The situation became widely known when younger brother Jordan Rodgers appeared on ABC’s “The Bachelorette” show and said, “Me and Aaron don’t really have that much of a relationship.”
“That’s the way he’s chosen to live his life,” Jordan said.
Not good.
Meanwhile, Rodgers suggested in the 2024 Netflix documentary that he had begun estrangement from his family much earlier than 2014.
He cited his family’s religious beliefs, different value systems, and feeling emotionally unsupported as some of the factors that contributed to the undeniable rift.
It should be noted that Rodgers has been the most prominent active NFL player to openly discuss the use of Ayahuasca, a psychoactive Amazonian plant decoction traditionally used in indigenous spiritual ceremonies, and he has also embraced Ayurveda, a traditional Indian system of healing.
He went on so-called dark retreats, and discussed interest in psychedelic mushrooms.
All this perhaps explains why Rodgers, who grew up in an evangelical Christian environment, may have rejected his family for some time.
Aaron Rodgers (8) of the Pittsburgh Steelers watches during the national anthem before the NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens at Acrizar Stadium on January 04, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
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“I started standing up for the institutions of my youth,” he said in the Netflix documentary.
But the past few weeks have shown a different side of Rodgers — at least based on the photos he’s posted on social media.
He spent time with teammates last week in what he called bonding week in preparation for his final NFL season.
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And now, at 42 and on the cusp of his 22nd NFL season, he’s settling the family business before what he calls “the final rodeo.”
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Rodgers will report to training camp in Latrobe, PA on July 28.
Follow Armando Salguero on X: @ArmandoSalguero
