For the past 18 seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers have had it made. Every season the Steelers coaches have gone into the season knowing they had Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback and everything would be fine. This means Pittsburgh has never had to do a great deal of planning for the future of the position.
But Roethlisberger’s retirement has left a void at quarterback and presents a unique challenge for the coaching staff. The Steelers chose to wait until this offseason to take any real steps toward replacing Big Ben, which could be a shortocming in itself. Nevertheless, here is the plan as best we can tell.
Free agent Mitch Trubisky was signed this offseason and is in line to be the starter. Trubisky is a former first-round pick who Pittsburgh is banking on a bounceback on a new team and in a new system.
But the Steelers took it a step further and went ahead and drafted former Pitt standout Kenny Pickett in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft. Pickett was the only quarterback drafted in the first two rounds which raises its own questions about Pickett as a prospect.
Nevertheless, this is the plan. Start Trubisky, hope he can play well enough to keep Pickett on the sidelines this season and go from there at the end of the season. But what if Trubisky falls flat early? Will this push Pickett onto the field early or will the coaches simply weather the storm?
Let us know in the comments, what should the Steelers do if things go wrong.
