You can safely count out PFF as being big fans of QB Mitch Trubisky. The site released their QB tier rankings Tuesday, A through F, and placed Trubisky in the near-bottom category, affectionally called the “Don’t Get Your Hopes Up” tier. Joining him were other journeymen arms like Carson Wentz, Marcus Mariota, and Sam Darnold, an island of misfit toys (and high first round draft picks).
Author Seth Galina had little to specifically say about Trubisky except for one final sentence to round out the group.
“Trubisky and Darnold are not viable starting options.”
Pittsburgh will find out if Trubisky can be a viable starter to at least begin the 2022 season. Signed on the first day of free agency, Trubisky spent last year with the Buffalo Bills, sparsely seeing action behind Josh Allen but earning praise from Bills’ coaches for Trubisky’s preparedness and positive influence. The Steelers signed Trubisky to a two-year deal full of incentives.
The Steelers were the lone team to select a QB in the Top 70 picks, drafting Pitt’s Kenny Pickett 20th overall this year. Pittsburgh’s framed it as an open competition for both men this summer. Clearly the team’s long-term goal is to make Pickett the team’s starter and he should ascend to that role by 2023 at the latest. Trubisky is likely to be one-and-done in Pittsburgh with a best-case scenario of him playing well-enough this year and being traded for a mid-round pick in the 2023 offseason.
Trubisky was the only Steelers’ QB recognized in PFF’s rankings. Given the unusually poor nature of this year’s QB class, there was no rookie tier. Instead, the only tier behind Trubisky’s “E” group were second-year players like Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence, Chicago’s Justin Fields, and Houston’s Davis Mills among others.
Mason Rudolph was predictably left off the list as well. While the Steelers have included him in the team’s competition, his path to start is narrow. It would take Pickett struggling mightily and a Trubisky injury for Rudolph to be the starter out of the gate. He’s the known, default option and won’t see many reps this summer while the team finds out all it can with Trubisky and Pickett.
Around the AFC North, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson are included in the “B” tier as the top QBs under the age of 30 (par for the course, PFF overcomplicates their system and makes the tiers less of a ranking and more of lettered categories). Curiously, Deshaun Watson isn’t anywhere on the list, presumably because of a potential suspension to begin the season.
