Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said he believes that the team’s 2024 starting quarterback is on the roster. Team president and owner Art Rooney II echoed similar sentiments, which would point toward third-year quarterback Kenny Pickett.
But Steelers all-time great and Pro Football Hall of Famer Rod Woodson, during an appearance Wednesday on the Rich Eisen Show, stated that he believes the team still has to shore up the quarterback position.
“Whoever they draft. …I don’t think their starting quarterback is in the roster. I just don’t think he’s there,” Woodson said to Eisen, according to video via the show’s Twitter page.
Woodson elaborated on his answer, questioning if Pickett, who was selected in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of the University of Pittsburgh, is ever going to be that franchise guy for the Steelers.
“I just don’t know if he’s that guy. Like if they would’ve [taken] Dan Marino years ago, I probably wouldn’t say anything today about them taking a Pitt quarterback,” Woodson added. “I just don’t know if the quarterback of the future is there. I just don’t know.”
Pickett, of course, is coming off a dreadful second NFL season, taking a significant step backwards after a promising close to his rookie season. Some of that can be attributed to the Matt Canada era, which led to the Steelers firing the offensive coordinator ahead of Week 12. That week, Pickett had one of the better games of his career and then looked good in the first half in Week 13 against the Arizona Cardinals before getting injured.
He never made his way back onto the field even after being healthy. Third-string quarterback Mason Rudolph finally got his opportunity again and seized upon it, giving the Steelers a serious spark after he replaced the woefully ineffective Mitch Trubisky entering Week 16 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Though the Steelers still state they publicly believe in Pickett and say he needs to show improvement, it’s not a comforting feeling for the fan base and the media around the team. Trubisky is likely a cut candidate to save some money, and Rudolph is set to hit unrestricted free agency and could leave for a better opportunity.
So, it’s not a surprise that Woodson believes the starter isn’t on the roster for next season or the future.
He did offer one suggestion and that would be to go after Kirk Cousins in free agency rather than trading for Chicago’s Justin Fields. Cousins has had a great career and put together some impressive season in recent years with the Minnesota Vikings, but he’ll be 36 years old and coming off of an Achilles injury.
“I think it’d be a really good idea if you get Kirk Cousins who’s been there, who’s done it, he’s an older guy,” Woodson said of who he wants to see as the Steelers’ starting QB. “He knows how to play, he knows how to distribute the football, he can throw the football down the field. He has some great little social media content with his little five chains and all that.
“So, I mean, he fits into the Black-and-Gold aura.”
Though he might fit what the Steelers need at the position, which is a smart, efficient ball distributor in new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s scheme, it’s very unlikely the Steelers chase Cousins and pay him the top dollar he’ll fetch on the open market. While Woodson believes that whomever the Steelers draft will be the starter to open the 2024 season, it sure feels like it will be Pickett to open the season, Rudolph as the backup and the minute Pickett falters a change will be made.
Seems a bit messy, if we’re being honest. But that’s the position that the Steelers seem set to put themselves into.
