One of the most enjoyable storylines of the offseason was the idea that the Pittsburgh Steelers badly handled veteran quarterback Mitch Trubisky and suggested that he would want to be traded.
While he very briefly, at the end of the year, expressed some regret over not taking more time to make a decision at the start of free agency, which has fueled much of this discussion, he never said that he regretted signing with the Steelers.
The bottom line is that he got his chance to start and he blew it with his own performance, which is the story of his career to this point. And the odds of anybody wanting to trade for an $8 million backup were always low to begin with. But, says Bob Labriola, the narratives were nonsense from the very beginning.
“That whole ‘Mitch Trubisky was mistreated and wants to be traded/released’ narrative was hokum from the start”, he said during the latest Asked and Answered segment when fielding a question about the possibility of moving Trubisky and bringing back Mason Rudolph to be the backup. “Any reports to that effect were inaccurate and any explanation to rationalize them now is just an attempt to avoid saying, ‘I was wrong’”.
The irony here, of course, is that if there is any quarterback with any kind of grievance about his treatment, no matter how small it might be, it would be Rudolph. So the odds of dealing one aggrieved quarterback to bring back an even more aggrieved quarterback seems to be rather low.
The second-overall pick by the Chicago Bears in 2017, Trubisky had a largely unremarkable starting career, and it was largely regarded that the success the team had during his tenure was due to the defense. He would have moments of brilliance, even whole games.
But there is a reason the Bears didn’t pick up his fifth-year option or make any attempt to re-sign him. Trubisky played in Buffalo in 2021 as a very cheap backup. If there’s any wonder in hindsight, it’s how he managed to get $16 million with incentives on top of that from the Steelers after a year of not even playing.
That’s not to take an unnecessary shot at him. Trubisky is a good backup and I have no issues allowing him to complete the contract he signed last year. He doesn’t need to be released or traded, nor does he need to be approached about taking a pay cut. More importantly, it doesn’t appear the Steelers have any intention of pursuing any of these avenues.
And Trubisky has given no indication that he is unhappy with his current arrangement in Pittsburgh, outside of the fact that he, like every backup, would prefer to start. He seems to have a genuinely good relationship with Pickett as well as the whole offense, who supported him both while he was starting and when he came off the bench.
All the rest was speculation from the media, even some in the national media, who just couldn’t conceive of an $8 million backup. Even Jeremy Fowler, of all people, added to the speculation, a rare miss for the former Steelers beat writer.
