PITTSBURGH — The tragic death of quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who became one of the most well-liked players in the locker room in just a short period of time, has rocked every level of the Steelers organization, from the players and coaching staff to the front office and building personnel.
That Haskins would engender such an outpouring of emotion after spending just 15 months with the organization speaks to the impact his smile and upbeat personality — traits for which he has been publicly eulogized by teammates and coaches — immediately had on those around him.
But, as with everything in life, time will go forward.
The Steelers will have months to grieve and move on, and they will, just like they always do. They did when their chairman and owner, Dan Rooney, the soul of the franchise, died in April 2017. And they did when their wide receivers coach, the immensely likable Darryl Drake, an impactful figure who had a father-like effect on many of the players, died suddenly in his dorm room in training camp in 2019.
Like all matters in professional sports, the game must go on, and so it will be with the Steelers.
Make no mistake, the somber mood at the team's South Side facility has been as palpable as the morning dew that rises from the adjoining Monongahela River since Haskins died on a Florida highway a week ago. But, despite the aching hearts that accompany any loss of human life, especially one so young and so tragically, Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert have continued to prepare for the NFL draft that is less than two weeks away and make decisions best suited for the development and success of the Steelers team.
And that includes deciding what to do at quarterback, no matter how trivial that may appear given the circumstances of the past week.
The departure of Josh Dobbs, who signed with the Cleveland Browns a day before Haskins' tragic accident, means the Steelers will have to add two more quarterbacks to their roster before training camp. The likelihood is one will be a drafted rookie, the other a veteran free agent.
In either case, what has transpired the past seven days is not expected to alter what the Steelers will do with their No. 1 pick in the draft. If they do select a quarterback at No. 20, which is certainly a possibility after all the time they spent scouting and courting the top prospects, it will be because that's what they intended to do all along, not because there suddenly are no backups behind Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph.
But what it will alter is what the Steelers do on Day 3 of the draft, when a backup quarterback could be in play in Rounds 4-7. That wasn't a given just a short time ago. Now it is.
Haskins was trying to resurrect his career when he signed a one-year deal with the Steelers in January 2021, hoping to parlay that into an opportunity to be Ben Roethlisberger's replacement this season. He was working feverishly with that in mind, spending nearly every day of the offseason in the Steelers' facility, watching film and working out. As part of that, he was in Florida last week training with his some of his teammates, including Trubisky, before he died.
However, the addition of Trubisky likely precluded any solid chance Haskins had to be the No. 1 quarterback. But there was a chance he could be the top backup. If Trubisky were firmly entrenched as the starter heading into the regular season, the Steelers might have considered trading Rudolph for some future draft capital and elevating Haskins, if he had a good preseason, into the No. 2 spot.
But it is unlikely the Steelers would even consider trading Rudolph now because of their desire to always have a dependable backup ready to go. Any quarterback they add now — whether in the draft or free agency or both — would not elicit the same level of confidence right away.
Speaking of free agent quarterbacks on the market, the cupboard is getting Mother Hubbard-bare. The only remaining veterans who are still available are Mike Glennon, A.J. McCarron, Cam Newton, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen.
Of the group, Rosen makes the most sense, though he is still a candidate to be re-signed by the Atlanta Falcons. He is 25 and, above all else, has the pedigree Tomlin seems to seek in outside free agents — he's a former first-round draft choice. After all, that's part of the reason Tomlin signed Haskins and another former first-round quarterback, Paxton Lynch, in 2019.
That list also includes the likes of Justin Gilbert, Taco Charlton and current safety Karl Joseph, all former top draft choices who were signed as free agents.
Sadly, these are the decisions the Steelers now have to make. And they will do so despite their aching hearts.
