It’s no secret that the Pittsburgh Steelers have an issue at the quarterback position. The 2023 season left fans with more questions than answers about young starter Kenny Pickett. Meanwhile, backup Mitch Trubisky was recently cut from the team and late-season hero Mason Rudolph is also potentially moving on to a different team. Thus, many fans have begun to look toward the upcoming NFL draft, hoping the Steelers will find themselves their next Ben Roethlisberger.
Unfortunately, the Steelers aren’t exactly in a position to take a franchise quarterback with their first pick being at 20th overall. However, nothing is ever off the table with the NFL draft, and even if it is low, the chance still exists all the same that the Steelers land their superstar signal caller. If it’s a Roethlisberger clone that fans want, it seems UNC’s Drake Maye could provide a very similar skill set, at least according to a former Steeler quarterback.
On his podcast Hanratty’s Huddle, two-time Super Bowl champion Terry Hanratty talked about how several teams in the league, including Pittsburgh, have a quarterback problem and that he recently spoke to a GM who was raved about Maye.
“A GM told me that everyone talks about [Caleb Williams] from Southern Cal. And all of a sudden, guy tells me, ‘Don’t be surprised if you don’t see Maye go before him,’” Hanratty said. “He’s like a Roethlisberger with better movement. Big and strong, and he’s got a big arm, and he’s a tough guy.”
This isn’t the first time that Maye has garnered comparisons to Roethlisberger, and certainly Hanratty’s description paints a picture that resembles a younger Ben Roethlisberger. It’s also not the first time that Maye has drawn a Roethlisberger comparison as Dan Orlovsky gave the same one earlier this year. It’s just unfortunate that Hanratty also essentially says that if the Steelers want him, they’ll have to do something they’ve never done before and trade all the way up to the first pick in the draft.
While the comparisons of Maye to Roethlisberger are bittersweet because of how unlikely it is that he’ll be a Steeler at the beginning of next season, there’s always a chance. Consider blind hope stupid, but the book isn’t published until the words are written. It’s also impossible to say for certain that Maye will never be a Steeler as it’s becoming more and more common that we see players demand a trade because they’ve become disgruntled with organizations not doing enough to help them win. At the moment, it feels like a pipe dream, but to get through the offseason, sometimes fans need to let themselves dream.
