Player: QB Mitch Trubisky
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: From starter to backup to third string, there’s not much further for the veteran quarterback to fall. Now Trubisky is facing the very real prospect this offseason of being released outright. His job security may hinge entirely on what the Steelers feel their other options are rather than what they think of him and his play.
It’s safe to say that the Pittsburgh Steelers flopped when they signed Mitch Trubisky in 2022. It was understandable at the time. Ben Roethlisberger had just retired. Mason Rudolph had not shown through four seasons that he was trending toward late-blooming starter status. They needed somebody who could come in and hold down the fort.
And at least Trubisky had been a starter before with tangible success. That was the thinking. No, it didn’t work out. His tenure as starter was abbreviated. He was pulled at halftime of the fourth game of the season. He looked better coming off the bench when he wasn’t chucking up interceptions.
Unfortunately the interceptions came too frequently. He has a 3.5-percent interception rate in Pittsburgh, throwing a pick on 4.7 percent of his passes in 2023. He went 0-2 in two starts and lost two more games after playing the majority of them for an injured Kenny Pickett.
It’s safe to say he fell out of favor. After starting the first two games following Pickett’s late-season ankle injury, the Steelers turned to Rudolph. He played much better. Trubisky was demoted to the third string. And Pickett was unofficially demoted to the second string.
Trubisky is owed $5.25 million for the 2024 season, including a $1 million roster bonus. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin did not commit to him in his end-of-season press conference. Cutting him wouldn’t save an enormous amount against the 2024 salary cap—in the neighborhood of $2 million after roster displacement—but there’s little sense in paying anything near that for a third-string option.
The only problem is it’s not clear who the second string will be without him. It’s not even clear who the starter will be. Rudolph is a free agent, and the Steelers are already on record saying they want to challenge Pickett as the starter. If they can’t re-sign Rudolph, it’s possible they could stick with Trubisky.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season at an end in a bitter loss to the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card Round, it’s time to look to the future. There will be plenty to wrap up over the next several months as players come and go, including re-signings, releases, draft picks, perhaps trades, and who knows what else.
We will also inevitably take stock of who had good seasons, who had bad seasons, who improved their position, who hurt theirs. In case you haven’t noticed, the NFL has long turned itself into a 365-day business (366 during leap years), so we’ll always have something to discuss.
