3 quarterback insurance options Steelers could get outside the draft

Teddy Bridgewater

Either way we slice it, it looks like Carolina is going to have to take a QB at 8th in the draft. Bridgewater has a heavy contract that will cause him to be shopped after drafting either Trey Lance or Justin Fields. Just a few years ago, Bridgewater was revitalizing Minnesota’s offense before a nasty injury put him on the shelf and out of their plans for the future. After playing well as a backup in New Orleans he earned a starting job in the NFL with Carolina signing a somewhat large contract.

The QB market is volatile at the moment due to the impending influx of talent from the draft. We just saw Matt Stafford shipped for a truckload of picks, while Wentz’s large contract was dumped for just a 3rd round and a 2nd rounder with conditions. The Steelers could pull off a trade using someone like Diontae Johnson paired with a 3rd rounder from this year or a higher pick from next year to give Carolina draft capital and a weapon at wide receiver.

I didn’t like Bridewater’s fit in Carolina and with his only real weapons being Christain McCaffrey and DJ Moore I’m not surprised he only threw 15 touchdowns. I was surprised he got as close as he did to 4,000 yards on the season being just under 300 yards away. He is only 28, he still has decent movement skills and he has an arm. His decision-making isn’t the best, but he has good enough placement and touch on the ball to make up for it well enough.

Bridgewater would be walking into an offense whose only real question marks are on the offensive line, and at the tight end spot behind Eric Ebron. I think Bridgewater can come in and if he has to sit for a year because of Ben Roethlisberger, it will be fine as the Steelers have already said they won’t be able to roll Matt Canada’s full offense out this season. If Canada has a quarterback to work with for an entire year while implementing his system it will eliminate growing pains past 2021.