There are several reasons to be critical of the Pittsburgh Steelers over the past six or seven years, but one of the undeniable common denominators has been poor quarterback play. They’ve had late-career, post-injury Ben Roethlisberger, Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, Justin Fields and Russell Wilson.
Aside from Kenny Pickett, who they drafted in the first round, they have taken a lot of half measures to address the most important position in sports. Marcus Spears wants that to change.
“Rip the damn bandaid off. Take one of these kids as a quarterback. If they don’t turn out, then be in the draft again in two years for a quarterback,” Spears said via ESPN’s NFL Live. “This fanbase should be furious about how they mismanaged and handled this quarterback situation.”
The Steelers need to start operating under the assumption that franchise quarterbacks are hard to find. They aren’t a dime a dozen. The next quarterback they draft might not be the long-term solution, but they have to start taking swings with greatly increased frequency. Get the process started now. It’s better to fail quickly and try again than continue to take half measures.
Kenny Pickett was drafted three years ago and the Steelers haven’t given quarterback prospects a serious look until now. If they don’t end up drafting one in the first round this year, it will end up being at least a four-year gap between serious swings at the position.
Many people are pointing to the 2026 QB class being great. Maybe it will be, but that is no guarantee. We don’t know for sure that Arch Manning will declare, and we haven’t even seen him start a full season in college. I’ll remind everybody that Quinn Ewers was once viewed as a Round 1 lock a year or two ago and is now going to be a Day 3 pick.
If the Steelers like a quarterback prospect, which many think they do, then I agree with Spears that they need to draft one as soon as possible. P-G’s Gerry Dulac reported that they have first-round grades on Shedeur Sanders and Jaxson Dart. If that’s the case, move heaven and earth to draft one of them.
“If Shedeur Sanders is there at 21, take him,” Spears said.
