If the Steelers wished any likelihood at discovering a younger quarterback to develop this offseason, they’d have saved Justin Fields on the town. He ended up signing with the New York Jets. As soon as Pittsburgh declined to take a quarterback within the draft till the sixth spherical, it appeared clear that they have been punting that call till subsequent offseason. After agreeing to a one-year deal with Aaron Rodgers, ESPN’s Marcus Spears thinks the Steelers are lastly beginning their seek for a franchise quarterback.
“I believed that they need to have began that course of,” Spears mentioned on NFL Reside on Wednesday. “I’ve seen, over time, that this is part of the Steelers’ beginning their quarterback seek for the man of the long run. I believed that by having Aaron Rodgers and also you profitable probably too many video games, you’d be sitting in the identical place you’ve been in for a lot of years, attempting to select a quarterback late within the rounds. That is going to should be a giant play for a quarterback subsequent 12 months.”
One might argue that the search started way back. In any case, Aaron Rodgers is much from the one quarterback coming from a foul state of affairs that the Steelers have tried to repair. Mitchell Trubisky, Russell Wilson, and Justin Fields are all examples of gamers coming off poor performances with totally different groups. Pittsburgh introduced them in since they didn’t have an opportunity to discover a prime prospect within the draft. After they did take a swing, they struck out with Kenny Pickett. Even Mason Rudolph, who was signed early within the offseason, is coming off a poor stint with the Tennessee Titans.
Nonetheless, 2026 represents a chance the Steelers haven’t had shortly. This offseason had a weaker quarterback class than subsequent 12 months’s is projected to be. They’re additionally in a singular state of affairs the place they’ll have a very good season and nonetheless draft excessive. Pittsburgh has a load of picks accessible subsequent offseason. Even when they find yourself on the finish of the primary spherical once more, they’ve the arsenal to make a transfer up the board.
Nonetheless, if given that chance, they nonetheless have to benefit from it. That’s one thing they’ve did not do lately. It’s additionally why that they had no alternative however to attend on Aaron Rodgers for months this offseason. Sadly, it’s going to take a giant and profitable swing, as Spears says, to get out of that boat.
Within the meantime, they’re giving an ageing defensive core yet another swing with Rodgers. The Steelers try to capitalize on their present window of alternative. On the similar time, they hope to retool for the long run. It’s laborious to do each of these issues properly. Over the subsequent 12 months, we’ll see if Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin can pull it off.
