The Pittsburgh Steelers have yet to figure out who their 2025 starting quarterback will be, and after losing Justin Fields to the Jets and with options like Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones off the board, Pittsburgh’s options are basically down to a reunion with Russell Wilson or signing Aaron Rodgers. The Steelers will enter 2025 with a new starting quarterback in Week 1 for the fifth straight year, and Stephen A. Smith doesn’t think Pittsburgh’s quarterback situation is any better than that of the Cleveland Browns, who have notoriously struggled to find a quarterback. Smith believes that the blame for that falls on Mike Tomlin.
“I don’t disagree with y’all about the Cleveland Browns, but I think the Steelers’ situation is just as cumbersome to say the least,” Smith said on ESPN’s First Take this morning. “Mike Tomlin won a Super Bowl in 2008, they lost in 2010, ain’t been back to the Super Bowl since. Fine, no problem. But to not have won a [playoff game] since 2016? To having five straight years of being one-and-done, and it’s been nine years since you won a playoff game. These are the Steelers we’re talking about, here. One of the most storied franchises in NFL history.”
Smith said he “loves Tomlin” and doesn’t want to see him leave Pittsburgh, but the struggles lately are an issue.
“We really also have to debate what level of mediocrity we want to embrace. Because when you’re middle of the road, you can’t really get a high-end draft pick because you’re not stinking up the joint. And obviously, you ain’t winning championships, so what difference does it make?”
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith calls out Mike Tomlin for the messy situation in Pittsburgh right now. #Steelers #NFL pic.twitter.com/YEy5JmlZVy
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) March 11, 2025
Smith said that Browns personnel executives deserve a pass because it’s owner Jimmy Haslam who makes the call, whereas Tomlin has more say in Pittsburgh and deserves more of the blame for its quarterback situation.
Tomlin isn’t Pittsburgh’s head of personnel, but he certainly has a say in the roster. So it’s fair to put some blame on him for the quarterback situation. It’s hard to fault him for having regular-season success and winning enough to where the Steelers don’t have a high draft pick. but Smith is right that being stuck in mediocrity without winning playoff games is a problem.
I don’t necessarily think that the Steelers are in the same boat as the Browns at quarterback. Cleveland might be starting Kenny Pickett this year, but with the No. 2 overall pick, it could also have a chance to take a quarterback of the future, albeit in a weak quarterback class. But given the constant turnstile at the position for the Steelers over the last few years, it’s a fair enough comparison.
Tomlin doesn’t deserve more blame than Kevin Colbert or Omar Khan or even Art Rooney II for the quarterback situation, but there’s a good deal of blame to go around for the way the Steelers handled the end of Ben Roethlisberger’s career, the whiff on Kenny Pickett in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, and the failure to get something done with Justin Fields if he was truly their No. 1 option.
Tomlin is a part of that, so Smith isn’t off-base to put some of that blame on him, and the fact that the Steelers haven’t been a competitive team in the playoffs goes largely on his shoulders. Things don’t look all that promising going forward either with the quarterback options left on the board, and the Steelers very well may find themselves struggling to find their franchise quarterback for years to come.
