Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have reportedly hired their offensive coordinator, former Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith, the matter of the quarterback situation is front and center. While head coach Mike Tomlin has said that Kenny Pickett will enter the offseason as QB1, he has also said that there will be competition for the starting job. Whether that is Mason Rudolph, another veteran or a draft pick, only time will tell.
To former Indianapolis Colts C Jeff Saturday, it should be a veteran quarterback brought in with the intention of winning that competition with Pickett. On Wednesday’s episode of Get Up on ESPN, Saturday said that Denver Broncos QB Russell Wilson should be the priority for the Steelers.
“Russell Wilson, for Arthur Smith, would be the best fit,” Saturday said. “Because he wants to play under center, he wants play-action, he’s a veteran quarterback, all the different things… Arthur Smith can create a run game no matter what, he does as good as anybody in getting that created. So if you’re going to talk about what Russell Wilson can do extremely well, you have a vet guy in there who’s won a bunch of games. I know people hate him [but] dude wins a bunch of freaking games.”
Wilson represents a conundrum for Steelers fans. He is a big name who is capable of winning “a bunch of freaking games,” as Saturday puts it. However, he has not been the same since joining the Broncos ahead of the 2022 season, and he’s going to turn 36 in November. He does not solve the quarterback situation long-term in Pittsburgh, which is why former Steelers executive Doug Whaley thinks it would be a terrible move.
However, Saturday’s thought does make some level of sense in the short term. Smith is a big proponent of using play-action to build off his successful run games wherever he goes. Atlanta was seventh in the league in terms of running play-action. When he was in Tennessee, Titans QB Ryan Tannehill attempted 74 play-action passes in 2019 over 12 games before jumping up to 158 attempts in 2020.
Wilson historically has been very good at using play-action. In 2021, his last season with the Seattle Seahawks, he averaged 10.2 yards per pass attempt on play-action. That number dropped in Denver to 7.3 in 2022 and 7.2 in 2023, but Wilson can still execute play-action successfully.
Steeler Depot’s own Alex Kozora did a deep dive into Smith’s background, and play-action is a major component of Smith’s offense. Per Kozora, Smith likes to move the quarterback around when using play-action, and “quarterback keepers, bootlegs/rollouts/waggles, are among his most popular play pass concept… He’s a proponent of changing the launch point and making it difficult on defenders being able to consistently attack the same spot.”
Whether it’s Wilson, as Saturday says, Pickett, or someone else, expect to see a heavy dose of play-action passes in 2024 from the team that ranked dead last in those attempts last season.
You can watch the entire segment below, including some thoughts on Chicago Bears QB Justin Fields’ fit in Pittsburgh:
