Will the Steelers finally stop carrying three quarterbacks with the new emergency quarterback rules?
Since the NFL changed the active list rules with an emergency quarterback dressing as a 46th player, many NFL teams have preferred to carry only two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, rather than three. The league has gone in reverse since then in the name of player safety, though the Steelers still carried three.
Specifically, despite expanding the active list, the NFL returned the emergency quarterback as an additional player eligible to dress. This offseason, they expanded the rule even further allowing that emergency quarterback to come from the practice squad.
Many teams, and in many years most teams, carry a third quarterback on the 53-man roster. Generally, the Steelers have preferred carrying three quarterbacks on the 53 over fears of poaching. That factor likely doesn’t change their thinking much, but this year could be an exception.
The Steelers believe strongly in their top two in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, but behind them, it’s another matter. They have veteran Kyle Allen, who is a typical journeyman third arm with experience. But they also have rookie college free agent John Rhys Plumlee, whom they paid a notable signing bonus.
Though he’s made other rosters before, there’s no guarantee a team signs Allen this year if the Steelers release him. And if they feel strongly enough about Plumlee, they might not overly concern themselves with that possibility. The odds of teams scooping up both quarterbacks is low.
One thing the Steelers could do is offer to pay Allen an increased salary on the practice squad if another team pursues him. As a veteran, he is not subject to waivers but is free to sign with any team at any time. However, teams may offer practice squad players any salary they want. Pittsburgh once paid B.J. Finney a roster-equivalent salary on the practice squad rather than allow him to sign elsewhere.
The purpose of taking such a step, of course, would be to take advantage of the new rule. I could see other teams doing the same thing: pay a third quarterback well on the practice squad to keep that extra spot on the 53-man roster while continuing to dress three arms. Allen’s only made above the minimum once in his career, I believe, in 2022, but not in 2023 in Buffalo. The Steelers did pay him a $167,500 signing bonus. But if they intend to re-sign him to the practice squad, that doesn’t make a difference. It’s just bookkeeping.
The Steelers’ 2023 season has been put out of its misery, ending as so many have before in recent years: a disappointing, blowout playoff loss. The only change-up lately is when they miss the playoffs altogether. But with the Buffalo Bills stamping them out in the Wildcard Round, they have another long offseason ahead.
The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Does Russell Wilson make them a Super Bowl-caliber team, or are they wasting a year? Will he play just one season in Pittsburgh before moving on, or the Steelers moving on from him? How will the team address the depth chart?
The Steelers are past free agency and the draft and their roster for the 2024 season is coming into focus. They made numerous moves through signings and trade—and release. More than usual, they seemed comfortable creating holes, confident they can fill them. Now that we have so many pieces of the puzzle, however, we merely have a new set of questions to ask.
