Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: QB Mitch Trubisky
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: The veteran quarterback has officially been benched in favor of Mason Rudolph while starter Kenny Pickett has returned to practice. After two poor showings in spot starts, there is a good chance that Trubisky never plays a snap in a Steelers uniform again.
The Pittsburgh Steelers got 558 career snaps out of Mitch Trubisky. In return, he received over $13 million. That’s a fine price to pay for a backup quarterback, the only problem being that Trubisky has not been good at his job.
And it’s quite possible that he won’t get another opportunity in a Steelers uniform. With starting QB Kenny Pickett now on the mend and Mason Rudolph named the starter over Trubisky, the latter isn’t likely to see the field again.
And he isn’t likely to be retained in 2024 and beyond. He is owed $5,250,000 next season and $6 million in 2025. It’s rather hard to imagine the Steelers believing that he is worth that if they are prepared to bench him at this point.
This season, he is 67-for-107 passing for 632 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions. He is averaging just 5.9 yards per pass attempt, and he has a quarterback rating of 71.9. His numbers from last season were no better.
Signed as a free agent in 2022 after Ben Roethlisberger retired, Trubisky’s initial task was to serve as a bridge starter. Little did he know that the Steelers would draft Kenny Pickett a month later. He still retained his job for a month but was yanked at halftime in his fourth start.
He signed an extension this offseason, but one that added no new money to his 2023 salary. Many speculate that it was a move forced on him to lower his cap hit or risk being released. He likely won’t have such an option in 2024 unless he is simply offered to take a substantial pay cut.
Perhaps I should wait to see what the next game or two looks like, but at this point it’s easy to imagine the Steelers would be better off retaining Rudolph as the backup. Or perhaps Pickett will wind up being the backup, because he’s looked more suited to that role than as a starter so far.
