Fresh off a 10-7 regular season and an embarrassing first-round playoff exit that saw the Pittsburgh Steelers lose five straight games to end the year, there’s a lot of questions about the roster and the vision moving forward in the Steel City.
Particularly at the quarterback position.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stated his season-ending press conference Tuesday that there are discussions to be had at the QB position after the Steelers saw Justin Fields and Russell Wilson start in 2024 and have some success.
But now, Fields, Wilson and even third-string QB Kyle Allen are all set to hit free agency. Skylar Thompson — signed to a reserve/futures deal on Tuesday — is the lone Steelers QB under contract right now.
For many, it’s time for the Steelers to get serious about the position and try to find that franchise guy through the draft. But for longtime NFL draft guru Mel Kiper Jr., who appeared on ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike Conduct Wednesday, that’s just not something that’s going to happen in this draft class, especially with the Steelers picking at No. 21.
“Good luck. Good luck. Because if you’re cutting ties with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields and Justin Fields said, ‘Hey, I’d like to be back with the Steelers. I don’t wanna learn another offense.’ He had to do that with three last four years, so I think Justin’s right about that. That’s the one part. And Chris [Canty] knows this: learning a new offense is like learning a new language and to have these young quarterbacks have to do that year in, year out ruins them, and it puts way too much on their plate. It’s overflowing,” Kiper said of the Steelers’ quarterback situation, according to audio via ESPN. “So I think Justin’s right about wanting to be back with the Steelers and compete, ’cause it’s not gonna just say, ‘Hey, you’re the guy.’
They’re gonna bring somebody else in. Who that’s somebody else is? I have no idea. And like I said, it’s supply and demand. There’s a lot of demand and very little supply.”
Sitting at No. 21 in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft after finishing the season 10-7 and losing in the AFC Wild Card Round, the Steelers are in a tough spot. Wilson, Fields and Allen are poised to hit free agency, the QB class in this draft is not being all that great and sitting in the back half of the first round, there is no clear-cut guy to even try to move up for.
It’s a lot like the Kenny Pickett draft class, for better or worse. The Steelers need a QB, it’s not a good QB class, they’re well down the board, and there’s no real obvious answer in free agency at the position, either.
Currently, ESPN has no first-round graded QBs, and the top two signal callers in the class right now are Miami (Fla.) QB Cam Ward and Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders, both of whom should go within the top three picks, which is a spot the Steelers are very unlikely to move up to.
So, as Kiper said, good luck.
The smart move for the Steelers would be to bring back Fields, try to retain Wilson on a team-friendly deal, let the two compete, and draft a quarterback in the middle rounds.
The problem with that is you’re not really changing anything, and a quarterback drafted in the middle rounds is a blind dart throw.
“These quarterbacks don’t grow one tree. So all these teams that say, ‘Oh, they’re gonna get a quarterback, they’re gonna have to move away from their guy.’ Move away to who? Who are you moving away to?” Kiper added regarding the QB situation in Pittsburgh. “So what do you do if you need a quarterback? I was gonna say good luck on that one.”
It’s a tough spot, but that’s why there’s a lot of faith and trust in Omar Khan, who has had a strong start to his tenure as Steelers GM, putting together two solid draft classes in back-to-back years. He was efficient in the way he addressed the QB situation last offseason, too, giving the Steelers multiple shots at success.
But this offseason will be even more difficult, especially if the Steelers turn to the draft in their franchise QB search.