Father’s Day is coming up, and if you’re anything like me, you might wait until the last possible minute to figure out a gift idea. The Pittsburgh Steelers are operating with a similar level of procrastination this offseason, and at the most critical position on the roster.
Bill Barnwell released a list of superlatives to sum up each AFC team’s offseason via ESPN and took the opportunity to roast the Steelers a little bit.
“The superlative: Most likely to wait until the last possible second to buy a critical gift,” he wrote.
While they took out an insurance policy on their quarterback position in the form of Mason Rudolph, it’s more like the kind of policy that doesn’t pay out when your roof caves in. The kind that leaves you wondering why you bothered buying it in the first place.
They also drafted Will Howard in the sixth round. Don’t get me wrong. I like his potential as much as the next guy, but he is still a sixth-round pick and the history of those players contributing early is extremely limited.
Instead, they have placed all their eggs in the Aaron Rodgers basket. To continue the analogy, that’s kind of like buying Elvis Presley’s childhood home for its illustrious history but realizing the original foundation from 1925 is crumbling beneath you. But hey, at least they’ll have a good story when the walls start buckling.
Barnwell has a good theory on the Steelers’ quarterback room.
“It’s the sort of quarterback room that makes you think Mike Tomlin upped the difficulty level on his no-losing-seasons streak as a challenge,” he wrote.
If Rodgers signs, he’d instantly become the best quarterback that Tomlin has worked with since pre-injury Ben Roethlisberger in 2018. That should make the Steelers competitive—maybe even good enough to secure a playoff win. But if he doesn’t? The room starts looking a lot like 2019, when Duck Hodges started six games.
“Unless the Steelers are waiting for the Falcons to eat some of Kirk Cousins’ money or believe Howard is the next Tom Brady, their only move left to make is to sign Rodgers,” Barnwell wrote.
By waiting until the end of May, the Steelers watched several viable options fly off the shelves in free agency. Maybe Rodgers will end up making Tomlin and company look like geniuses on a one-year, $10 million deal. But it feels more likely at the moment that 2025 will be another in a long line of forgotten seasons.
Mike Tomlin’s often-debated, always-scrutinized streak of non-losing seasons might finally hit its boss battle.
