It’s a safe bet this offseason that at some point or another, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be connected to almost every quarterback that finds himself available, whether that’s via trade, free agency or even the NFL Draft.
Outside of obviously Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, the Steelers have already been tied to the likes of Matthew Stafford, Sam Darnold, Aaron Rodgers, and even Shedeur Sanders. Now, they’ve been connected to Daniel Jones, too, thanks to a report from local radio host Andrew Fillipponi earlier in the week.
Fillipponi’s report led to plenty of speculation across the talk-show circuits Wednesday morning, including FS1’s Breakfast Ball. On that show featuring Craig Carton, Danny Parkins and Mark Schlereth, the trio debated Jones as a fit for the Steelers. Though Parkins believes they already have Jones in Justin Fields, both Carton and Schlereth were in favor of Jones to the Steelers.
In fact, Schlereth stated that he believes Jones could be a playoff quarterback for the Steelers in Arthur Smith’s offensive scheme, featuring play-action and RPO, which could play into Jones’ strengths, much like Smith did with Ryan Tannehill during his tenure in Tennessee.
“He is not a drop-back [quarterback], go through progressions, make the right throw. Like he, that’s not what he does. The year he had a ton of success with Brian Daboll, you have to understand the play-action game that was created off of his athleticism and also the fact that they ran him probably 10 design run plays, eight to 10 a game. So they really used the RPO system and all those things. So if you couple that with the fact that Arthur Smith is the offensive coordinator and he did that with Ryan Tannehill, that’s exactly what Ryan Tannehill was when he came to Tennessee,” Schlereth said of Jones as a possible fit for the Steelers with Smith as offensive coordinator, according to video via FS1. “He was a backup to Marcus Mariota. They benched Mariota, they develop an offense off of his [Tannehill’s] run ability off the play action ability, off Derrick [Henry], and then a couple playoff runs.
“If you do that with Daniel Jones, he could be a playoff quarterback. If you think he’s a drop-back guy that’s gonna read the coverage and get through his progressions, he’s just not that. He’s never been that and he’s never been great at that.”
While Jones struggled throughout his tenure in New York and was ultimately released late in the season, he did throw for nearly 15,000 yards in 70 games and added another 2,179 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns. Jones’ best season in New York came in 2022 with Brian Daboll as a first-year head coach.
That year, Jones threw for 3,205 yards and 15 touchdowns and added another 708 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, leading the Giants to the divisional round of the playoffs after beating the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Wild Card.
Since then, Jones got a big contract and failed to live up to it and has also struggled with injuries and turnovers. He has 47 interceptions and another 50 fumbles. The size, arm strength and mobility are there, but questions remain between the ears with Jones, who seemingly hasn’t been able to stay out of his own way throughout his career.
The fit with Smith is certainly intriguing, though, as he brings a similar build and skill set that Tannehill had in Tennessee. The stories are similar, too, as Tannehill never quite figured it out in Miami despite being a high draft pick, but then once he landed in a place where his strengths were built around, he thrived.
Maybe that could be the case with Jones. The Steelers could certainly do worse from a talent perspective.
