For 18 years, Ben Roethlisberger had a firm grasp on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback position, remaining the starter throughout his entire career. However, since his retirement, the Steelers have been in search of his replacement. Kenny Pickett was supposed to take up that mantle but ultimately failed. Now, an unlikely candidate has appeared in Russell Wilson, not exactly a young star, but more like a veteran looking to turn his career around. There’s some hope Wilson can be an upgrade for the Steelers over what they had at quarterback last year, but one former player does not believe so at all, having some scathing remarks about Pittsburgh’s recent history at quarterback.
Emmanuel Acho played linebacker in the NFL from 2012 to 2015 and now serves as an analyst for Fox Sports 1. On a recent episode of the network’s show SPEAK, Acho stated that Wilson won’t succeed with the Steelers, pointing to their history of failing to develop any quarterback.
”Pittsburgh is where quarterbacks go to die. I didn’t want to do this because I didn’t believe it until I started talking through it. Byron Leftwich, Mike Vick, their careers, they came to an end in Pittsburgh. Charlie Batch, his career came to an end in Pittsburgh. Dennis Dixon, his career came to an end in Pittsburgh. Kenny Pickett, his career as a starter came to an end in Pittsburgh. Mitch Trubisky, his career as a starter came to an end in Pittsburgh. Mason Rudolph, his career came to an end in Pittsburgh.”
The list Acho is reading off of is one he created of the Steelers’ quarterbacks under Mike Tomlin, pointing out how many of them ended their careers in Pittsburgh. Also included are Landry Jones, Ben Roethlisberger, Charlie Batch, Josh Dobbs, Duck Hodges, and Bruce Gradkowski. It’s a foolish list, though, and a story that has no ground underneath it. Most of those player’s careers were over before they got to Pittsburgh, simply due to age. They just received another chance to maybe come into a game if Roethlisberger got hurt.
For others, like Hodges, Dixon, or Jones, they bounced around a few other teams as backups before ultimately retiring. Even worse, Acho has Dobbs on this list, a player who was better once he left the Steelers. Batch was also significantly better with the Steelers than he was with the Lions. Acho contradicts himself with his own list.
What’s even more bizarre is that Acho listed Roethlisberger, who had a Hall of Fame career with the Steelers. He does give some explanation as to why Roethlisberger is the only one that gives him pause with this theory though.
”The only dilemma I fall into with Ben Roethlisberger is that Ben Roethlisberger was [inherited] by Mike Tomlin. All of these other quarterbacks that I’m naming, and all these other quarterbacks you’re seeing, he didn’t inherit them like he inherited Ben Roethlisberger. Every quarterback Mike Tomlin acquired, their careers come to an end there. I’m not making this up.”
He is, in fact, making this up. Most of these players spent their careers as backups, and also went on to be backups on other teams. It’s not like Vick went from the most dynamic quarterback in the league to his career being over. He got old, and he didn’t even look like himself with the Jets the year before he was with the Steelers. However, Acho does go on to explain his point a little further, clarifying why he’s being so harsh about a group of backup quarterbacks.
”They are twos and threes, but could they have been ones? Pickett was a first-round pick. Landry Jones was a third round pick, I believe. Mason Rudolph was a fourth-round pick. If you look across the NFL, you see fourth-round picks. Kirk Cousins. You see fourth-round picks. Dak Prescott. You see third-round picks. Nick Foles. You see third-round picks. Russell Wilson. Yes, these are twos and threes, but were they twos and threes by nature, or were they twos and threes by nurture.”
Acho’s point, it seems, is that no quarterback has revived their career under Tomlin. Sure, you can say that, but it’s still not true. Leftwich got a chance with the Buccaneers after playing with the Steelers. Many of these players got the chance to go elsewhere after Pittsburgh and they still couldn’t be starters there. Acho is being controversial for the sake of being controversial. The Steelers had no need to revive anyone’s career because they had Roethlisberger. Why go after a guy who wants to start when you have a starter in place?
Overall, you could maybe make this point about Pickett, but that’s about all. The Steelers didn’t exactly put him in a place to succeed with Matt Canada as offensive coordinator and a shoddy offensive line in front of him, but at the end of the day, he reportedly chose not to compete against Wilson. Maybe he could’ve been a better quarterback with the Steelers, but we’ll never know because he didn’t want to be here anymore, which is fair. If Acho wants to talk about a team’s struggles with developing quarterbacks, he should head down the turnpike and look around Cleveland. They’d love to have the kind of success the Steelers had with Hodges.
