AFC North labeled second-best QB division despite Steelers uncertainty

NFL.com recently ranked the AFC North as the second-best quarterback division in the league despite some big questions for the Steelers and Browns.

If there’s one thing that Ben Roethlisberger can be very thankful that he avoided, it was facing top-notch quarterbacks in his own division. During the 18 years of his NFL career, Roethlisberger’s toughest divisional quarterback matchups were players like Carson Palmer, Joe Flacco, and Andy Dalton.

While Big Ben was pretty fortunate in this regard, the same cannot be said for the next Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback. Whether it’s Mitch Trubisky or Kenny Pickett who gets the nod as the starter in 2022, they’ve got a difficult task ahead.

Over the past several years, the AFC North quietly transformed from a quarterback-needy division to one of the strongest QB divisions in the league. This was certainly aided by the progress of Bengals QB Joe Burrow, who nearly won the Super Bowl in just his second NFL season.

Recently, NFL.com analyst Adam Schein ranked each NFL division by quarterback strength. The AFC North came in second.

It’s impossible to argue that any QB group is stronger than the AFC West at this point in time — a group that Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Russell Wilson, and Derek Carr. However, the AFC North isn’t far behind.

In addition to the Bengals striking gold on Joe Burrow, the Baltimore Ravens have an MVP quarterback in Lamar Jackson. His win percentage (37-12 career record) is second among active players only to the great Tom Brady.

Despite these two young stars, there are plenty of questions in the AFC North still that are preventing them from competing to be the number one quarterback division at this point in time.

Big questions at QB with Steelers, Browns

Deshaun Watson didn’t play football at all during the 2021 season as he deal with his civil suits. While most of it might have been resolved in court, this is an issue that isn’t going away anytime soon and the NFL will have to decide how to deal with this.

Some think that Watson doesn’t play football at all this year while others claim that he might not play again — regardless of the massive $230 million guaranteed contract he received upon his trade to the Browns.

If he does return, we know that he’s a pretty special quarterback. Watson earned three straight Pro Bowls from 2018 to 2020, and his 104.5 career passer rating despite being on a bad franchise is quite remarkable. His return would immediately elevate the QB strength of the AFC North.

If and when Watson comes back, most assume that the Pittsburgh Steelers will be a distant fourth in this QB race, as the lackluster combination of Trubisky and Pickett won’t be enough to compete with the top dogs in the division.

Obviously, this is contingent upon the eventual development of Kenny Pickett. The Steelers wouldn’t have drafted him in the first round if they didn’t think he could eventually be good enough to compete with the guys in this division.

For the time being, the Steelers quarterbacks are a distant fourth in the AFC North, but we hope that improves in the coming years. Sadly, Pittsburgh is in a very tough division loaded with excellent quarterbacks, and they are just going to have to deal with it.