If the Pittsburgh Steelers want to get out of their current predicament of zero playoff wins in eight seasons (and counting), it’s going to come down to addressing the quarterback position with more than just a Band-Aid. Just look at the Houston Texans and the Washington Commanders as they went from bottom dwellers to contenders immediately after finding their franchise QB. Steelers legend Jerome Bettis thinks it’s time to make some moves with a trade up in the draft to ensure a better future at the position.
“You’ve gotta find the quarterback, and unfortunately the organization has not been able to come up with a great plan to get that quarterback in the building ever since Ben Roethlisberger retired,” Bettis said via NFL Network’s Good Morning Football. “They’re a victim of their success because they haven’t had those losing seasons. They haven’t been able to draft high to go and get that quarterback. So now I think they’re at the point of no return where they have to make a decision.
“If they like one of these quarterbacks, then they’ve gotta put a package together and give some assets and resources away to go up and get the quarterback that they need. Because they know if they continue to do this, they’re gonna get the same results.”
Mike Tomlin said during his end-of-season press conference that franchise quarterbacks are not exclusive to the top of the first round of the draft. He cited Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts as the best recent examples of that. Both of them were in pretty loaded quarterback classes to push them down the board. The 2025 NFL Draft is the exact opposite of loaded at the position.
It will ultimately come down to whether they like one of the prospects enough to take a big gamble. Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward would be expensive to move up to acquire. Jalen Milroe doesn’t feel like the solution, and reports indicate that the Steelers aren’t enamored with him as a prospect. Maybe they like Jaxson Dart or Will Howard enough to take a swing? Those wouldn’t be the flashiest moves, and the Steelers might not need to trade up at all to make it happen.
More than likely they will need to have Russell Wilson or Justin Fields in place as the bridge quarterback with an eye on the 2026 NFL Draft to put together a trade package for their future guy.
Bettis isn’t sold on Wilson or Fields being anything more than a bridge to the future at this point for the Steelers.
“If you’re looking at these guys and saying, ‘Hey, these guys are going to be our QB1 for the foreseeable future,’ I think that’s probably not the right way to look at this scenario,” Bettis said of Wilson and Fields. “You have to look at the 10-year future and I don’t think either one of these guys are in that particular plan.”
The strength of this draft class is at defensive line and running back. The worst outcome would be passing on a 10-year fixture along the defensive line for a quarterback they are only half sold on just for the sake of taking a quarterback.
While Bettis’ idea absolutely has some merit, it might be the worst class for the Steelers to trade up for a quarterback since the 2022 NFL Draft in which the Steelers had their pick of the QB litter at No. 20 overall in the first round. The only quarterback who worked out from that class was Mr. Irrelevant, Brock Purdy.
Taking one extra year to find their guy would be less damaging than potentially wasting more draft capital when the Steelers have plenty of other needs.
