From the moment the 2023 season ended, the quarterback rumors started for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were linked to every available, or potentially available quarterback, over the course of two months leading up to free agency. As it turns out, that is exactly what should have been happening. The Steelers landed on Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, but at the annual NFL owners meetings in Orlando, head coach Mike Tomlin let on a little more about the team’s process.
“When the free agency process began, we only had one quarterback on our roster, and so we were looking at every available person on the market or every potentially available person on the market,” Tomlin said in a video posted on the Steelers’ team website.
When the Steelers have a hole in their roster, they are going to do their due diligence on all available players at that position. So while it was somewhat exhausting to write about the 15-plus quarterback that the Steelers ended up being linked to by various rumors and pundits in the media, it was a worthwhile exercise because that is exactly what the Steelers themselves were doing.
Tomlin elaborated a little further on the acquisition of Wilson as well.
“We anticipated it kind of being a competitive market,” he said. “I think he went to New York prior to coming into our place, and so, we [were] pleased that it was able to come together, but how it was initiated was just in a very routine way in terms of us acknowledging we only had one guy at the position and scouring everyone in the market.”
This is good insight into the team’s process for free agency. The Steelers cast a wide net and do their due diligence on everybody available. That is what led them to Wilson, which started as a routine part of the process and what later led to the trade for Fields. And it made perfect sense to attack that position in free agency as Kenny Pickett was the only quarterback under contract for 2024. They vowed to give him competition, but when the competition came, he requested his way out of town.
The Steelers still have some holes on their roster, notably at the wide receiver, slot corner, and center positions. Tomlin acknowledged as much in his Pittsburgh media session on Sunday afternoon. They filled one hole at the receiver position with the recent signing of Van Jefferson, and on Monday morning, they reportedly agreed to terms with Quez Watkins. Given how the process went down at quarterback, they are certainly still weighing options to fill those other holes and comparing it to what they think they can get in the 2024 NFL Draft.
