Reported Wednesday afternoon and made official by the team on Thursday, former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Mitch Trubisky has reunited with the Buffalo Bills on a two-year deal. While speaking to members of the Buffalo media live on Buffalo’s X account, expressed his gratitude for the way his release was handled in Pittsburgh. He was asked how the free agency process went this time around, now his third time on the market.
“It was very chill, to be honest with you,” Trubisky said Thursday. “It wasn’t like my other free agencies. I was thankful that the Steelers released me earlier than free agency actually started, so my agent was able to start talking to some teams. And so I took a very relaxed approach.”
Trubisky was released along with RT Chukwuma Okafor and P Pressley Harvin III on Feb. 12, the day following the Super Bowl, which is earlier than cuts normally take place. C Mason Cole was released two weeks later. General manager Omar Khan was asked about this at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine. Here was his answer:
“I would say that with Pressley and Mitch and Mason and Chuks, once we made the decision that they weren’t going to be part of the 2024 team, it just felt like the right thing to do was to give those guys the opportunity to hit the free agency market sooner than later.”
While other teams are chopping down their roster and making cuts this week, less than a week before the start of free agency, Khan and the Steelers made the effort to have those decisions in place earlier. It is certainly a more player-friendly approach than forcing them to scramble last minute, especially when the decision is already made on the team’s end.
“It was a good, mutual breakup, I guess you would call it,” Trubisky said. “I mean, there were rumblings that they were going to do it. And so, my mindset was if it’s going to happen, it’d probably be more beneficial to do it sooner rather than later to help me get a head start on free agency…I’m thankful for that and I’m thankful for my time there.”
Trubisky signed with the Steelers during free agency in 2022 on a two-year deal. At the time, Ben Roethlisberger had just retired, and Trubisky was in line to be the unquestioned starter until the Steelers drafted Kenny Pickett in the first round the following month. He started just seven games for the team in two seasons and had a record of 2-5. In the 2023 season, he got the first opportunity off the bench when Pickett got injured, but his poor play over two starts led to Mason Rudolph replacing him for the rest of the season.
He totaled 184 completions on 287 attempts for 1,884 yards and 12 total touchdowns, including four on the ground. He also threw 10 interceptions, which was his ultimate downfall for a Pittsburgh team that had little margin of error on offense.
Trubisky now ends up back in Buffalo where he spent one season prior to joining the Steelers to back up Bills QB Josh Allen.
