Quarterback is going to be the point of emphasis this offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers, at least when it comes to the national media.
Third-year quarterback Kenny Pickett is expected to be the starter to open the 2024 season, though the Steelers would like to bring in competition for him. That could be retaining Mason Rudolph or adding a veteran like a Ryan Tannehill, Jacoby Brissett or Gardner Minshew II in free agency.
Chances are, Rudolph returns and competes with Pickett for the starting job in training camp while the Steelers will also likely select a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft.
For CBS Sports’ Will Brinson though, the Steelers need to bring in a third candidate to compete against Pickett and Rudolph, whether that’s trading for Justin Fields, signing Russell Wilson or something else.
“This is a rock and a hard place for the Steelers. I’ll tell you what, gimme a third-party candidate,” Brinson said of the Pickett and Rudolph debate. “Gimme Justin Fields, go out and trade for Justin Fields. If you were already in a place of Kenny Pickett, a former first-round pick, where you’ve got to go and decide between him and Mason Rudolph. …he [Rudolph] is hanging around the Steelers organization and he’s pushing the first-round pick in Pickett. This is just a problem. This is a team that has too much talent to waste, especially in a really difficult division.”
The Steelers do have too much talent across the board to be wasting it right now in a tough AFC and in the AFC North by just getting by at the quarterback position.
Make no mistake about it: that’s what they’d be doing running it back with Pickett or Rudolph in 2024 and beyond.
However, the Steelers aren’t exactly in a position to go out and spend big on a Kirk Cousins or Baker Mayfield in free agency, and it’s just not how they operate to trade for Fields and hand him a guaranteed fifth-year option without seeing him play a snap, especially when that fifth-year option is nearly $22 million.
That leaves potentially Russell Wilson in free agency, should the Broncos not find a trade partner, cutting the veteran loose after head coach Sean Payton benched him late last season.
Brinson is on board with Wilson.
“I think you gotta go out and make a move to get somebody else. Russell Wilson, I know we’re gonna talk about, is on the market. I mean, look, Russ is old and looks washed and with two different teams, but at least it gives you a little bit of upside,” Brinson said. “And then I think with the Fields stuff, the Bears are clearly thinking about moving on. …That to me makes a lot more sense, especially in an Arthur Smith offense where we’ve seen him utilize quarterbacks with their legs.”
Fields certainly makes a lot of sense, as does Wilson. But the only realistic option is Wilson based on financial implications.
The prospects of having guys like Pickett and Rudolph battling it out again in training camp for the starting job in 2024 isn’t all that promising. In fact, it’s a bit frustrating. But that’s likely going to be what happens, and then a mid- to late-round draft pick in the mix as well as an undrafted free agent.
That’s just how the Steelers do things. Does that need to change? Yes, especially at quarterback. But don’t expect that to change anytime soon.
