The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2021 season is over, already eliminated from the postseason after suffering a 42-21 loss at the hands of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. They just barely made the postseason with a 9-7-1 record and a little help from their friends.
This is an offseason of major change, with the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, the possible retirement of general manager Kevin Colbert, and the decisions about the futures of many important players to be made, such as Joe Haden, Stephon Tuitt, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and others.
Aside from exploring their options at the quarterback position, the top global priority, once again, figures to be addressing the offensive line, which they did not do quite adequately enough a year ago. Dan Moore Jr. looks like he may have a future as a full-time starter, but Kendrick Green was clearly not ready. Chukwuma Okorafor is heading into free agency, as is Trai Turner.
These are the sorts of topics among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked. There is rarely a concrete answer, but this is your venue for exploring the topics we present through all their uncertainty.
Question: What do you think about the Steelers bringing in Mitchell Trubisky at quarterback?
While the Steelers have reportedly agreed to terms with two outside free agents yesterday, on the first day of the negotiation period, neither deal will be official until submitted to the league offices at the beginning of the new league year.
One of those contracts is said to be with former second overall draft pick Mitchell Trubisky, who spent most of his career with the Chicago Bears, the team that drafted him, before sitting behind Josh Allen with the Buffalo Bills last year.
While details of the reported offer at still a bit fuzzy, and slightly different numbers have been indicated, roughly, it’s a two-year deal worth $14 million, which could nearly double if certain unknown incentives are achieved. It’s likely that the majority of these incentives would be rather difficult, perhaps Pro Bowl, All-Pro, and Super Bowl incentives. They could also involve snaps, starts, statistics, etc.
Ostensibly, Trubisky is being brought in to compete with Mason Rudolph for the Steelers’ starting quarterback job later this season, but it’s not a deal so exorbitant that it would preclude them from drafting a quarterback they feel strongly about.
Contracts for even backup quarterbacks can come in at a pretty hefty sum. $7 million per season for two years for a very experienced, proven backup quarterback is not the worst thing in the world, especially if the actual starter is far from established himself—whether it’s Rudolph or a rookie, either this year or next year. And the deal, at the least, does give them a quarterback under contract for 2023.
