Mitchell Trubisky

Steelers Planning To Keep Mitch Trubisky As Starter Throughout Season?

September 23rd, 2022 at 10:10pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Steelers lost their second straight game Thursday, and their offense has been held under 20 points in each of their three contests. Mike Tomlin remains committed to Mitch Trubisky as his starter, however.

Tomlin said postgame he is “definitively” not planning to make a quarterback change. The 16th-year Steelers HC went further before his team’s Week 3 game. Tomlin’s plan is to stick with Trubisky throughout the season and give Kenny Pickett a true redshirt year, according to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer (h/t Awful Announcing), who adds Tomlin told him, “This is Trubisky’s team.”

This endorsement says a lot about the Steelers’ Pickett timeline, and while it would still be stunning if the team sat its first-round quarterback throughout the season, Tomlin’s pregame and postgame stances makes it look like a long NFL onramp is indeed being built for this year’s No. 20 overall pick. This plan would qualify as a zag compared to how most teams have handled first-round quarterbacks over the past decade.

Although Jordan Love and Patrick Mahomes (save for a Week 17 cameo five years ago) were able to go through full-on redshirt years, their respective teams had solid-to-excellent (in Aaron Rodgers‘ case) starters. Trubisky checks in well below the Rodgers or Chiefs-years Alex Smith level. The Steelers, however, not entertaining a Pickett promotion during their upcoming mini-bye effectively affirms their view of the local rookie’s progress.

Pickett played well during the preseason, but Trubisky was viewed as the first-stringer throughout the offseason. The Pitt product also was a four-year starter at the ACC school that shares a home stadium with the Steelers, giving Tomlin and Co. a fairly good indication of his readiness. Pickett sitting throughout would still surprise, given that this is his age-24 season and his upside outpaces Trubisky’s at this point in the latter’s career.

Trubisky only spent one season as a full-time college starter — at North Carolina in 2016 — but was among the bevy of first-round picks to take their NFL team’s reins early in his first season. The Bears gave him the call in Week 5 of the 2017 campaign. Excluding the Mahomes-Love-Trey Lance genre of rookie QB and the two first-rounders who did not hold down the job after seeing first-string action as rookies (Johnny Manziel, Paxton Lynch), every first-round QB since 2012 has been given a genuine first-season run as a starter.

Should the Steelers insist on Pickett sitting in 2022, they do have third-stringer Mason Rudolph in place. The team passed on trade interest in its fifth-year reserve arm. With Pickett having leapfrogged Rudolph on the depth chart, it would surprise if the longtime Ben Roethlisberger backup usurped Trubisky anytime soon.

Pickett questions will likely continue for the Steelers, whose offense appears to have a low ceiling as presently constructed. Then again, the franchise prioritizing Pickett’s growth over 2022 success would make sense as a long-term plan. This latest report certainly makes Pittsburgh’s Roethlisberger succession plan more interesting.

Steelers Sticking With Mitch Trubisky As Starting QB

September 20th, 2022 at 6:56pm CST by Sam Robinson

Ben Roethlisberger began his starter run in Week 3 of the 2004 season. A Tommy Maddox injury led to that seminal switch. Eighteen years later, the Steelers’ new first-round quarterback prospect looks like he will need to wait longer.

Although some pro-Kenny Pickett chants broke out at Sunday’s Patriots-Steelers game, the No. 20 overall pick will not replace Mitch Trubisky. While acknowledging Trubisky can be more aggressive with downfield throws, Tomlin said he is exercising patience with his quarterback (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Brooke Pryor) and offensive coordinator.

“I’m not happy with much of anything when we just lost a game, but I’m also experienced enough to see the big picture, that we are still very much in development,” Tomlin said, via The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, when asked about OC Matt Canada‘s play-calling. “I’m going to exercise appropriate patience and continue to teach and ask the guys to continue to learn in an effort to continue to push this train down the track and get better.”

This does not represent a logical week to make a switch. Following Thursday’s Browns matchup, however, a transition window opens. Trubisky’s play will dictate how much longer he has as Pittsburgh’s starter, though Pickett’s development may be a bigger factor at this point.

Pittsburgh’s offense struggled during Roethlisberger’s final season, ranking 25th in DVOA. It has offered two low-wattage performances this year. Trubisky, who has attempted 15 throws at or behind the line of scrimmage this season, enters Week 3 averaging 5.1 yards per attempt. Excluding Dak Prescott‘s one-game sample, that mark ranks as the league’s worst. Neither Chase Claypool nor second-round pick George Pickens have surpassed 30 receiving yards in a game this season.

Trubisky is not expected to keep his job throughout this season, but his two sub-200-yard performances magnify Pickett’s development. The Steelers have a Week 9 bye. Although Trey Lance, Jordan Love and Patrick Mahomes are exceptions, with their teams planning longer NFL onramps, every first-round quarterback chosen from 2017-21 had been elevated into the starting lineup by Week 10. (That list expands to 2012 if Paxton Lynch and Johnny Manziel are excluded.) With it being more norm than exception for QBs to begin their starter runs by October of their rookie year — Trubisky took over in Chicago in October 2017 — how long Pickett waits looks like it will be rather important to the Steelers’ contention prospects.

The Steelers promoted Canada from quarterbacks coach to OC last year. He replaced Randy Fichtner. Pittsburgh ranks 30th in total offense, and Najee Harris is averaging 2.9 yards per carry. Even Trubisky called on Canada to be more aggressive, though the second-year OC has not yet worked with an above-average quarterback or much offensive line talent. The offense’s performance Thursday in Cleveland certainly will be a hot-button topic.

“Call concepts to get receivers there,” Trubisky said, via Pryor, on the subject of downfield passing. “When the coverage dictates that, get them the ball within that. … We like our outside matchups. We’ve got really good receivers. We’ve got really good talent across the board. We’d like to attack all areas of the field and get the ball to our playmakers. So, we could do a little bit better at everything, for sure.”

Tomlin: Mitchell Trubisky Is Steelers’ Starting QB

September 6th, 2022 at 11:09am CST by Sam Robinson

Although the Steelers made a change to their depth chart Tuesday morning, moving Kenny Pickett from the third-string spot to No. 2, Mitchell Trubisky‘s name remained with the starters. That will be the case Sunday against the Bengals.

Mike Tomlin confirmed Tuesday morning the long-expected path the Steelers will take to open the season: Trubisky is the starting quarterback. The former No. 2 overall pick had been viewed as the starter since signing a two-year, $14MM deal in March. This is all but certain to change at some point this season, with Pickett being groomed to take over. For now, however, the Pitt product will learn from the sidelines.

Chosen 20th overall, Pickett played well in the preseason and is now in position to dress as Pittsburgh’s gameday backup. Tomlin said he has been “really pleased” with Pickett’s development thus far. This will be the first time since 2007 that no rookie QB will have started in Week 1 (h/t ESPN.com’s Field Yates, on Twitter). Pickett and third-round Falcons pick Desmond Ridder almost certainly will make starts this season, but Atlanta (Marcus Mariota) and Pittsburgh will go with vets to open the campaign.

After Trubisky’s Bears tenure underwhelmed, putting it mildly, he rebuilt his stock somewhat by backing up Josh Allen in Buffalo. Trubisky, 28, has started three openers — 2018-20 — previously and was Chicago’s full-time starter early in his 2017 rookie year. The North Carolina product replaced Mike Glennon five games into his rookie season, but after his Bears tenure began to go south in 2019, the Matt Nagy–Ryan Pace regime traded for Nick Foles. The former Super Bowl MVP replaced Trubisky early in the 2020 slate, though the younger passer regained his starting job and helped the Bears to that year’s playoff bracket.

Trubisky has made 50 career starts. He is a career 64.1% passer (6.7 yards per attempt) who is 29-21 as a starter. The Giants were connected to the ex-Brian Daboll Buffalo pupil as well, but the Steelers landed him to be Ben Roethlisberger‘s immediate successor. Pickett looms, however. Roethlisberger took over as a starter in Week 3 of his rookie year, though a Tommy Maddox injury prompted that change. Save for 2019, when Roethlisberger’s elbow injury led to both Rudolph and Devlin Hodges making starts, the Steelers did not need to worry about their QB depth chart for the next 18 seasons

The Steelers will only dress Trubisky and Pickett in Week 1, Tomlin said, noting a clerical error had Rudolph above the rookie on Monday’s depth chart. Rudolph, who has been with the Steelers since 2018, emerged in late-summer trade rumors. The Steelers passed on moving the former third-round pick, but Rudolph will not be in uniform on gamedays — as long as Trubisky and Pickett are healthy.

Latest On Steelers’ QB Competition

September 6th, 2022 at 9:44am CST by Adam La Rose

SEPTEMBER 6: The Steelers look to have issued a correction. A day after releasing a depth chart that placed Rudolph as their backup, the Steelers now have Pickett in that spot (Twitter link). Trubisky-Pickett-Rudolph was believed to be the quarterback hierarchy for Pittsburgh, which discussed Rudolph in trades before cutting their roster to 53 last week. This change, which puts the Pitt product in position to dress on gamedays, creates a clearer path for the long-expected Trubisky-to-Pickett bridge.

SEPTEMBER 5: After the final round of roster cuts had been made last week, the Steelers still had the same three quarterbacks at the top of the depth chart as they have since the draft. Their rankings in the pecking order were thought to be known, though nothing became official until today.

Pittsburgh’s Week 1 depth chart lists Mitch Trubisky as the starter, as noted by ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. That was the expected decision throughout the offseason; the veteran signed a two-year, $14MM deal in free agency after one season as a backup in Buffalo. That, of course, was preceded by his four-year stint as the Bears’ starter which included a pair of playoff appearances but not enough production to warrant his draft status as a No. 2 pick or a new deal from Chicago.

Things became more complicated at the draft when the Steelers became the only team to use a first-round pick on a signal-caller, selecting Kenny Pickett 20th overall. Widely seen as the most NFL-ready prospect available, the move came as no surprise, and expectations have persisted that the Pitt alum will see action at some point. That became especially true when Trubisky struggled in training camp, though he — like Pickett and fourth-year returnee Mason Rudolph — acquitted himself relatively well during the preseason.

As was the case in June, Rudolph is listed as the backup ahead of Pickett. The veteran was thought to be a cut, or perhaps more likely, trade candidate in the past few weeks, but the team elected to keep him. Rudolph has put up underwhelming numbers in his 17 career appearances, leading to speculation about whether or not he would be active on gamedays.

As Mark Kaboly of The Athletic writes (subscription required), Trubisky (who was also elected a team captain) is likely to get a multi-game run with the first team to start the season. While he also “guarantees” that Pickett will see the field in 2022, he adds that Trubisky will receive a long leash before being replaced.

Head coach Mike Tomlin is expected to confirm the news tomorrow, but the Steelers appear set to move forward into a season once again featuring playoff expectations without a surprise at the game’s most important position.

Steelers Expected To Retain Mason Rudolph

August 29th, 2022 at 10:40pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although trade rumors have followed Mason Rudolph for a few days now, the Steelers are not planning to deal their longest-tenured quarterback.

Rather than move Rudolph for a draft pick, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac notes the team’s intention is to hang onto him (Twitter link). One season, on a $3MM base salary, remains on the extension Rudolph signed in April 2021. A couple of teams have made inquiries, per The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, but they have not swayed the Steelers.

Trades around this time often involve players teams plan to cut ahead of the deadline to move rosters to 53. Rudolph falls outside of that category, which does not impose a deadline for the Steelers. Rudolph has remained on Pittsburgh’s roster for five years now, and it is clear no satisfactory offer has come in.

This season has the clear look of a bridge situation, not unlike the Tommy Maddox-to-Ben Roethlisberger one that formed in 2004 (a Maddox injury summoned Roethlisberger in Week 2 of that season; the rookie kept the job for 18 years). At some point, Mitchell Trubisky will give way to Kenny Pickett. Mike Tomlin also has not named Trubisky his Week 1 starter yet, though Kaboly expects that to happen. That has long been the expectation, but Pickett impressed in preseason game action. Tomlin said Monday he “might” have already made his Week 1 QB decision.

Rudolph, 27, is not expected to be in contention to start for Pittsburgh. The team has Trubisky signed to a two-year deal but could escape the contract with a minimal dead-money hit in 2023. Trubisky’s incentive package begins to pay out if he plays 60% of the Steelers’ offensive snaps this season. It would be a slight surprise if, barring a Pickett injury, that happened this season. Pickett taking over could reopen the door to another Rudolph extension for 2023, as the Pitt product’s backup, but for now, Rudolph lingers — in 2021 Nick Foles fashion — as a veteran third-stringer.

Latest On Steelers QB Situation

August 22nd, 2022 at 9:48pm CST by Ben Levine

It’s been assumed that the Steelers would roll with Mitchell Trubisky as their starting quarterback before eventually handing over the reins to rookie Kenny Pickett. However, head coach Mike Tomlin suggested that the team is still evaluating their options when it comes to the QB1. As ESPN’s Brooke Pryor tweets, Tomlin said that this upcoming week’s practices will determine a number of spots on the roster, including the “starting quarterback position.”

As Mark Kaboly of The Athletic wrote last week, the Steelers have had a focused plan as they guide their rookie quarterback up the depth chart. While Pickett had a standout performance as the third quarterback in Pittsburgh’s preseason opener, his promotion to QB2 wasn’t attributed to his performance…it was attributed to the strict roadmap created by Tomlin, offensive coordinator Matt Canada, and quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan.

“Yeah, we’ve got a system in place,” Canada told Kaboly. “Coach, we’ve had this thing mapped out since I don’t know when. We’ll continue to stay right on our plan and see where it goes.”

Many assumed the plan would see Trubisky starting at least a handful of games, especially since the veteran has exclusively taken first-team snaps in practices. The thing is, the quarterback plan hasn’t been communicated to anyone outside of Tomlin/Canada/Sullivan, with third QB Mason Rudolph even admitting that he knows “nothing about that process of what they are looking for.” So, while Trubisky was the assumed starter, the coaching staff may have always intended to have Pickett under center for Week 1.

Speaking of Rudolph, it’s clear that the 27-year-old is the third QB on the depth chart, and it remains to be seen if he’ll stick around for the start of the season. Kaboly recently wrote about the situation, noting that the Steelers haven’t actively shopped Rudolph…but they also haven’t received any calls. The writer opines that it makes more sense to keep Rudolph around as insurance, and the front office could recoup a compensatory pick when he inevitably leaves after the season. The Steelers also have Chris Oladokun around, but despite his seventh-round status, there’s a better chance he lands on the practice squad.

Latest On Steelers’ QB Situation

August 5th, 2022 at 5:20pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although the Steelers used a first-round pick on Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky is the favorite to be the team’s Week 1 starter. Pittsburgh’s initial 2022 depth chart reflected that plan, listing Trubisky with the first team and Mason Rudolph as his backup.

These placements can certainly change over the next month, and each of Pittsburgh’s three passers has received first-team work. But Trubisky has garnered the bulk of the Steelers’ starter reps during training camp. The former No. 2 overall pick has not distanced himself from his competition. Trubisky has enjoyed bright spots, but for the most part, he has struggled in camp, via Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com and The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly.

After Trubisky flamed out with the Bears, Steelers signed the 2021 Bills backup to a two-year, $14MM deal that included playing-time incentives. This is a fairly clear-cut bridge situation, similar to the one in which Trubisky replaced Mike Glennon in Chicago five years ago, but it is unclear how much developmental time Pickett will need to take over. Only three Round 1 passers over the past 10 years have gone beyond Week 10 of their rookie years without making a start (Jordan Love, Patrick Mahomes and Johnny Manziel), though a few (including Trey Lance and Paxton Lynch) returned to the bench after rookie-year starts.

Rudolph has looked the best thus far, ESPN.com’s Brooke Pryor said during an interview with 93.7 The Fan (Twitter link). This continues a trend from the team’s offseason program. The Steelers have been careful to include Ben Roethlisberger‘s longtime backup in conversations about this year’s starting job. The former third-round pick beating out Trubisky, however, would certainly signal a free agency misstep by the team. Rudolph’s extension, signed in 2021, runs through this season.

“We’re not going to micromanage or overmanage this quarterback competition,” Mike Tomlin said, via Wilson. “The depth chart will not rest on every throw. I know that you guys will want to ask me every day and every throw, but we’re going to be a little bit more steady than that.”

The 49ers continue to dangle Jimmy Garoppolo in trades, and although the veteran starter is tied to a $24.2MM base salary (nonguaranteed until Week 1), any team that trades for the ninth-year passer would rework his contract. No rumors have emerged indicating Garoppolo is a legitimate option for Pittsburgh, but if Pickett is viewed to be closer to a redshirt rookie than one who takes over early, the 49ers trade chip would almost certainly be a better option compared to the two Steelers vets. Pittsburgh holds just less than $10MM in cap space.

AFC North Rumors: Trubisky, Apple, Pratt, Johnson

June 24th, 2022 at 8:34pm CST by Ely Allen

With Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Deshaun Watson (tentatively) being cemented behind center in Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, respectively, Pittsburgh is working to name their starting quarterback to open the 2022 NFL season. According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the current situation points towards free agent acquisition Mitchell Trubisky being named the starter for the Steelers’ season opener in Cincinnati.

On 105.7 The Fan, Dulac was quoted saying, “I think the plan is, and I don’t think there is any question about this, unless something would dictate otherwise including injury, I think Mitch Trubisky will go into the regular season as the starter.” He continued, “NFL teams don’t draft quarterbacks No. 1 to have them be the third quarterback and a gameday scratch. I expect Kenny Pickett to be the guy who dresses on gameday (as the primary backup).”

When asked where that leaves five-year veteran Mason Rudolph, Dulac thinks the Steelers will have “a little bit more respect than to keep him around as the third quarterback and a gameday scratch.” Dulac believes Pittsburgh would rather have the two parties mutually move on and try to find him a trade to a desirable location.

Here are a few other rumors from around the AFC North, starting with a couple rumors from the division (and conference) champions from last year:

When detailing some training camp position battles in Cincinnati this summer, Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic asserted that six-year veteran cornerback Eli Apple will be favored to keep his starting job over rookie second-round pick Cam Taylor-Britt. After the rollercoaster start of his career, Apple played well last year for the Bengals. Despite the team spending heavy draft-capital on his position by drafting Taylor-Britt early, Apple has reportedly responded very well to the pressure and kept his eye on the ball. Taylor-Britt may eventually unseat the incumbent, but, for now, expect to see Apple across from Diontae Johnson or Chase Claypool to open the season this September.
Expanding further on the Bengals’ offseason to-do list, Dehner Jr. reported on some possible extension candidates in Cincinnati, claiming that, for now, the Bengals don’t view linebacker Germaine Pratt as an extension candidate. Since Cincinnati selected him in the third-round of 2019, Pratt has been a formidable defender, racking up 76 tackles as a rookie as well as 89 and 91 tackles in the two seasons since. Despite his defensive tenacity, it doesn’t appear that Pratt does quite enough to force an early decision from the Bengals on his future. Instead, Pratt will want to put together a contract year that will either convince Cincinnati to keep him around or convince another franchise to spend big to bring him in. The Bengals will allow him to play out the last year of his rookie deal and assess his value before free agency.
Despite the recent one-year deal running back D’Ernest Johnson signed earlier this month to remain in Cleveland, ESPN’s Jake Trotter believes that Johnson could still potentially find himself as the odd man out of a loaded running back room for the Browns. With Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt cemented as 1-2 at running back, Johnson is competing with 2021 draft pick Demetric Felton and 2022 Draft pick Jerome Ford for playing time behind them. Since both Felton and Ford offer versatility to rush and receive out of the backfield, along with cheap rookie deals, it’s not out of the question to imagine Johnson on the outside looking in. In this case, the Browns may want to find a trade-partner to take Johnson and make sure they don’t completely waste the deal they awarded him weeks ago.

Latest On Steelers’ QB Competition

June 12th, 2022 at 8:11pm CST by Ely Allen

As Pittsburgh rolls into the post-Roethlisberger era, they are in the less than common situation of having four drafted quarterbacks on the roster. Mind you, the Steelers did not originally draft Mitchell Trubisky, but the point is that while most teams’ third- and/or fourth-string quarterbacks tend to be undrafted long-shots, every quarterback on Pittsburgh’s roster had draft capital invested in them. Mark Kaboly of The Athletic gave a breakdown this weekend of where each of these quarterbacks has slotted through spring practices.

Pittsburgh acquired Trubisky in free agency this offseason after also considering then-free agents Teddy Bridgewater and Jameis Winston. Despite the hole left behind center, the Steelers never seemed to consider trade options such as Baker Mayfield or Jimmy Garoppolo and made it known early that they were not going to acquire Deshaun Watson. Trubisky signed a reasonable two-year deal to compete for the starting job in Pittsburgh after spending last season as Josh Allen‘s backup in Buffalo.

Trubisky saw all of his work this spring come with the first-team offense, throwing almost solely to Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, and Pat Freiermuth. Not only did he only work with the first-team, he was the only quarterback to work with the first-team receivers and offensive line combination. Trubisky appears to be a good fit with offensive coordinator Matt Canada‘s motion-heavy offense. Regardless of whether or not this is a clear indication of who will start Week 1, Trubisky is in the mindset that he will win the job saying, “I’m preparing to be a starter. I feel like, no matter what position you’re in, that’s the way you should prepare.”

The quarterback taking snaps with the second-team is not who most would assume. Third-year Steeler Mason Rudolph is currently the second-string quarterback. The former third-round draft pick has started 10 games over his career (eight in his rookie season) with limited success. Despite the potential for him to settle in as someone who had their chance and watched it pass by, Rudolph reportedly “looked the best of the four quarterbacks” this spring. Rudolph is a meticulous worker and preparer and threw the most consistent ball with the biggest body in the group. While many considered him to be nothing more than a camp body, Rudolph put himself in the quarterback conversation, even if it will require some failures from Trubisky and Pickett to get him to the top of the depth chart. “This is the best opportunity I’ve had in four years,” Rudolph told Kaboly. “I am excited, and I look forward to competing.”

Working as the third-string quarterback this spring has been rookie first-round pick Kenny Pickett. Head coach Mike Tomlin and Canada both offered that their current snap distribution is based solely on seniority, with Pickett falling behind Trubisky and Rudolph despite the possibility that he may be the most talented of the bunch. The idea is for Pickett to take the time this spring “to learn how to be a pro,” getting comfortable with the scheme and playbook now so that he can focus on competing for his depth chart spot in the summer. Luckily for Pickett, he has a bit of a leg up in terms of the language of the playbook with some familiarity from the time Canada recruited Pickett to Pitt. Pickett didn’t have too many snaps fewer than Trubisky or Rudolph, but his third-string status had him throwing to a very different receiver group. Pickett said he was “trying to be the best pro (he) can be,” calling this spring “100 percent successful.”

Lastly on the roster is rookie seventh-round draft pick Chris Oladokun. Oladokun transferred from South Florida to Samford to South Dakota State throughout his college career, spending that whole time outside of consistent Power 5 football. According to Kaboly, it showed, as Oladokun “looked like a guy who didn’t get many reps and came from a small college.” Oladokun is a project and his dearth of playing time reflected that, with Oladokun pointing out the importance of staying “locked in” mentally. The benefit of Oladokun’s lowly roster status is that he gets plenty of exclusive time working with David Corley, the assistant to quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan. Whether or not Oladokun ever competes for starting snaps in Pittsburgh, his dedicated time with Corley will foster benefits throughout the future of his career.

For now, the spring depth chart reflects the level of experience, just as Tomlin and Canada have intended. Based on the amount of time Trubisky has had with the first-team, it’s hard to imagine anyone else starting behind center in Week 1 at Cincinnati. Though, with Rudolph coming into his own and the talented rookie, Pickett, hot on their heels, it’s anyone’s guess who the Bengals will face in their season opener.

Latest On Steelers’ QB Situation

May 30th, 2022 at 10:59pm CST by Adam La Rose

As one of the teams without a surefire Week 1 starter at the quarterback position, the Steelers are, naturally, receiving attention with respect to their competition at that spot. That makes the question of which signal-caller would receive first-team reps an important one as OTAs get underway.

As detailed by Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the answer to that question is Mitch Trubisky. That comes as little surprise, given the multi-year deal he signed in free agency, as the team began its multi-pronged search for Ben Roethlisberger’s successor. The former No. 2 pick has the potential to be a starter once again, after attempting just eight passes as Josh Allen‘s backup in Buffalo last year.

The news that Trubisky is in pole position for the No. 1 job, albeit early on in the offseason, comes after a report Breer made earlier this month that first-rounder Kenny Pickett would have the opportunity to become the starter right away. The Heisman finalist was the only QB taken on Day 1, universally seen as the most NFL-ready prospect in a generally underwhelming class. That may make him the favorite to see the most playing time amongst rookies this year, but Pittsburgh’s situation at the position could remain unsettled into the fall.

Meanwhile, Mark Kaboly of the Athletic adds that incumbent Mason Rudolph “feels he has a legitimate chance” of beating out the two arrivals for the starting role. The 2018 third-rounder has 10 starts to his name, although only two of them have come since 2019. He is still most likely destined to remain a backup or No. 3 on the depth chart, but with uncertainties surrounding his other competitors, the door is still open for him to win the job this summer.

Like in Seattle, the identities of the contenders for the top QB spot are known, but the order in which they will appear on the depth chart remains up in the air to a greater extent than arguably anywhere else. Without the addition of Jimmy Garoppolo or Baker Mayfield looming, of course, the forthcoming competition in the Steel City will be strictly internal, but intriguing nevertheless.

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