The Pittsburgh Steelers could be making a disastrous mistake
with their quarterback position.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot of uncertainty at quarterback, and that uncertainty may extend over into the 2024 NFL season. In a recent media appearance, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin appears to have indicated the team’s quarterback situation in 2024:
Kenny Pickett will return as the starting quarterback in 2024, but the squad will face some competition. Mason Rudolph looked like the Steelers’ best passer this season, which is saying a lot. Pickett was the team’s first-round pick in 2022, and I’m not sure if he would have been picked if he hadn’t attended Pitt.
The Steelers appear to have gone for the feel-good story when they drafted Pickett, since the second-year quarterback has been downright dreadful for the team. In 25 games for the team, he has thrown 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions for a passer rating of 78.8. He completes just 62.6% of his passes and averages 179 passing yards a game.
He turns 26 this year. I don’t believe there is a single aspect of Pickett’s game that the Steelers can objectively evaluate to determine whether he can be a franchise passer, and it’s perplexing that he is being reinstated as the starting quarterback. Third-string quarterback Mason Rudolph looked dramatically better for the Steelers this year, and the adage “If you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have any” applies.
It’s difficult to say which of the Steelers’ three quarterbacks is definitely the best, between Pickett, Rudolph, and Mitchell Trubisky, who all played this season. I believe Pickett and Rudolph would make good backup quarterbacks, but the Steelers are willing to accept mediocrity if Pickett is given a chance to be the starter. Tomlin does mention that they will bring in competition, which is most likely a free agency acquisition.
If the Steelers were serious about winning, I believe they would bring back Rudolph as a stopgap quarterback and look to the 2024 NFL Draft to find a long-term solution. Holding onto Pickett for a third year just delays the Steelers’ hopes of making noise in the playoffs
.
