Pittsburgh Steelers Exit Meeting: QB Kyle Allen
Experience: 7 Years (1 with Steelers)
The Steelers brought in veteran backup QB Kyle Allen in 2024 as part of a complete overhaul of that position. After releasing Mitch Trubisky, signing Russell Wilson, letting Mason Rudolph walk, trading Kenny Pickett, and trading for Justin Fields, they rounded out their room with Allen.
And he played all of two snaps, completing his lone pass attempt for a 13-yard gain and a first down. That came in the Week 5 game against the Dallas Cowboys, at which point Wilson was still inactive. He had dressed as the emergency third quarterback, but both active quarterbacks are required to exit the game for the emergency quarterback to play. Thus, Kyle Allen made his one appearance in a Steelers uniform.
But will that be Allen’s one season in Pittsburgh? Like the rest of the room, he is a pending free agent. While the Steelers are very unlikely to retain both Wilson and Fields, that doesn’t guarantee Allen’s return. The Steelers have signed Skylar Thompson, but he by no means has a guaranteed roster spot.
A former college free agent, Kyle Allen has spent seven years in the NFL, making 12 starts in 2019. That was in his second season, during which he went 5-7. That season, he went 303-of-489 with 3,322 yards and 17 touchdowns. But he also threw 16 interceptions and fumbled an astonishing 13 times.
Of course, Allen didn’t have the opportunity to do all of that with the Steelers, playing two snaps. During training camp, he actually started out playing rather well but trailed off as the weeks progressed. In preseason play, he went 17-of-23 for 193 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
All in all, Kyle Allen was what you would expect from a typical third-string quarterback. Whether the Steelers re-sign him or not, it probably won’t make much of a difference. It wouldn’t do any harm if they did, although they might not want to.
I go back to a comment Art Rooney II made a couple weeks ago. In addressing the quarterback room, he said that he would like to avoid a situation in which the quarterbacks’ styles clash. He wanted everyone in the room to be able to run the same system. So if the Steelers re-sign Justin Fields, Kyle Allen wouldn’t be the most logical backup.
The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves at home, the inevitable result of another early playoff exit. This is a repeated pattern for the organization, with no clear end in sight. As the Steelers conduct their own exit meetings, we will go down the roster conducting our own. Who should stay, and who should go, and how? Who should expect a bigger role next season, and who might deserve a new contract? We’ll explore those questions and more in these articles, part of an annual series.
