Aaron Rodgers has insisted he will need to 'talk to his wife' before deciding whether to retire from the NFL... despite her identity remaining a mystery nearly a year after they apparently tied the knot.

The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, 42, is set to play in what could be his final game in the NFL this weekend, and he has plenty to decide over the next few months with many expecting him to hang up his cleats.

There are plenty of factors to weigh up - age, health and ability to name just three - and it appears Rodgers will also have 'family' on his list of considerations... despite it being a closely-guarded secret from the public.

'I don't really want to get too deep into it, you know?' Rodgers said at the end of his press conference on New Year's Eve, when asked about his NFL future. 

'Obviously, I'll talk to my wife and then, you know, hopefully that's a decision down the line, but I'm not really going to talk about anything.' 

Rodgers first revealed in June that he had been married for 'a couple of months', placing the wedding in around March or April, but no further details have been revealed.

The NFL icon has continued to wear a wedding ring but has never been seen in public with his wife, and all that is known is her first name: Brittani.

The Steelers could yet make the playoffs if they beat the Ravens on Sunday Night Football, a win that would kick the can down the road and extend Rodgers' 21st season in the league.

The four-time MVP believes there will be opportunities for him - be it in Pittsburgh or elsewhere - if he does decide to play into another season. 

'Whenever the season ends, I'll be a free agent,' he said, as his one-year deal with the Steelers nears an end in June.

'So that´ll give me a lot of options if I still want to play. (Maybe) not a lot options, but there'll be options, I would think. Maybe one or two.'

Rodgers' message heading into Week 18 is a notable shift from his stance in the early summer, when he said on 'The Pat McAfee Show' that he was 'pretty sure (2025) is it.'

It still might be, but Rodgers also seemed encouraged by his own play at times this season. Rodgers has thrown for 3,028 yards with 23 touchdowns and seven interceptions heading into an elimination game against the Ravens. 

He's also stayed largely healthy, save for fracturing the wrist on his left (non-throwing) hand, which forced him to sit out a loss to Chicago in late November.

Rodgers joked last week that in some ways he feels like the fictional character Benjamin Button, who ages in reverse.

Asked if he thinks he's shown enough over the past four months that any decision he makes about 2026 will rely solely on his desire to play and not his ability to play, he nodded.

'I mean, I hope so, yeah,' Rodgers said. 'I mean, I hope I can get through this stretch and feel good physically so that´s not in the conversation.'

Rodgers declined to pull the curtain back too far on what will go into the decision-making process, saying only that he'll talk with his wife and come to some sort of resolution 'down the line.'

The Steelers have long pointed toward the 2026 NFL draft - which will be held in Pittsburgh - as an opportunity to land the young franchise quarterback they've been searching for since Ben Roethlisberger retired at the end of the 2021 season.

Yet an incoming quarterback class that looked stacked in August doesn't look so stacked heading into January. 

While Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza figures to hear his name pretty early in the first round by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, some of the other prospects thought to be available - such as Texas' Arch Manning and South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers - have chosen to stay in school instead.