No matter what else the Pittsburgh Steelers do this offseason, the harshest reality is that, sooner or later, they’re going to need to find another quarterback. Even if they ride with Mason Rudolph through 2022, I don’t think there are many people who genuinely feel he is capable of being a franchise quarterback who can deliver a Super Bowl title. In other words, I don’t see his final game in Heinz Field looking anything like Ben Roethlisberger’s.
And everybody knows, of course, that the Steelers need a quarterback. That’s almost always the case when a team sees a quarterback they’ve had starting for more than a decade retires, after all. Rarely is there a legitimate successor in line.
The players know as well as anybody that one of the team’s biggest priorities this offseason is to explore every option available to them at the quarterback position, whether it’s veteran free agency, the trade market, or the draft. They also know it’s beyond their pay grade, but Cameron Heyward will welcome all comers.
“They all look good in black and gold when they got our defense”, Heyward told the Good Morning Football crew in making his sales pitch. “Whoever wants to come out this way, be in the cold a little bit, we got something for you. We got some pieces on offense. Black and gold does look good. It goes with everything. An old guy or a young guy”.
“I’m just looking for somebody to come in and lead the front on offense, deliver some touchdowns to a guy like [Chase] Claypool and Diontae Johnson, hand the ball off to Najee Harris”, he added. “We have some really good pieces on offense. I don’t know who it’s gonna be. it’s gonna be interesting. I’m glad I don’t have to make those decisions, but hopefully we get the guy we need”.
We don’t know a ton about the Steelers’ intentions, beyond the fact that head coach Mike Tomlin and president Art Rooney II have been somewhat emphatic in insisting that they are willing to explore any avenue, including possible trades, in looking for their next franchise quarterback.
We do know that Tomlin was like a bloodhound down at bowl week investigating some of the top draft prospects coming out in this year’s class. Some feel that there are tea leaves connecting Liberty’s Malik Willis to Pittsburgh, but that’s assuming he is even available.
It is not necessary for a team to bottom out in order to get a good enough quarterback if one is willing to be bold. Both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans were playoff teams when they aggressively traded up in 2017 to get Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, respectively. Both quickly developed into two of the best young quarterbacks in the game, though we know the divergent paths they’ve since taken. And there’s no guarantee there is a Mahomes or (on-field) Watson in this class.
