The early 1990s Pittsburgh Steelers would have looked a lot different had Bill Cowher gotten his way. According to former NFL quarterback Jim Everett, Cowher wanted to trade for Everett, but the deal never came to fruition and Everett didn’t find out about it until after he retired.
“I was almost a Pittsburgh Steeler. I was almost traded there, but my agent didn’t tell me,” Everett said on Golf Podcast: Next On The Tee. “In 1991, Cowher was trying to trade for me, and I didn’t find out about it until probably ’98 after I retired.”
Cowher succeeded Chuck Noll before the 1992 season and after Neil O’Donnell took over for Bubby Brister during the ’91 season, so it’s likely the trade was being negotiated after that season happened when Cowher became Pittsburgh’s head coach. O’Donnell did lead the Steelers to a 9-3 record as a starter in ’92 when the team went 11-5 following a 7-9 season while Everett’s Rams team went 6-10. But Everett threw for 3,323 yards and 23 touchdowns that season although O’Donnell had a slightly better quarterback rating and made the Pro Bowl. With Pittsburgh’s supporting cast including players like Barry Foster and Jeff Graham, who had 711 receiving yards in 14 games in ’92, Everett could’ve had more success with pieces around him that were better than he had in Los Angeles.
Ultimately, O’Donnell was able to lead Pittsburgh to a Super Bowl appearance in ’95 while Everett never had a winning season the rest of his career. Clearly though, Cowher saw something that made him think Everett would’ve been an upgrade over what the Steelers had in O’Donnell and Brister. Whether Everett would’ve been an upgrade in Pittsburgh with a better supporting cast is a question we’ll never know, but the Steelers were happy with O’Donnell and seemingly didn’t try to go after Everett again. He was eventually traded to the New Orleans Saints in March 1994 in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick.
I’m not quite sure Everett had the talent to become a guy to lead the Steelers to a Super Bowl, especially since he regressed following the ’92 season while O’Donnell was solid, if unspectacular, and did enough to make a conference championship run in ’94 and a Super Bowl run in ’95. Sticking with O’Donnell after his performance in ’92 was probably the right choice although he never won a Super Bowl in Pittsburgh before departing for the New York Jets following the 1995 season.
It’s a fascinating what-if though, and interesting to hear that he was someone whom Cowher wanted on his team upon taking over as head coach. It’s a move that may have worked out, but sticking with the incumbent was more than likely the right choice. It reminds of when former Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane was going to take the Boston Red Sox job and as detailed in the book Moneyball, would’ve traded catcher Jason Varitek following the 2002 season to replace him with then-Chicago White Sox backup Mark Johnson. Johnson went to Oakland with Beane still in charge and had a rough 2003 season. He was essentially out of baseball after 2004 despite a brief cup of coffee with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2008 while Varitek became a three-time All-Star and the Red Sox captain. A move that may have seemed smart on paper in actuality would’ve set the team back.
Everett was still playing good football so it might not have been as bad of a move, but his performance did fall off in 1994, and he never returned to being a good starter. Maybe Cowher and Ron Erhardt, Pittsburgh’s offensive coordinator, could’ve gotten more out of him. But given the results between Everett and O’Donnell, keeping the latter, who ranks among the best quarterbacks in Steelers history, seems like it was the right move.
