Steelers would be foolish not to cut QB Mitch Trubisky in 2023

Mitch Trubisky served his purpose on the team this year, but the Pittsburgh Steelers must move on from him for financial reasons in 2023. 

I was not opposed to Pittsburgh’s decision to sign veteran quarterback Mitch Trubisky during the 2022 offseason. In fact, he was one of the free-agent options I was pulling for at the QB position. However, there’s always been a stipulation attached: the Steelers can’t view him as anything more than what he is — a stop-gap starter here to bridge the gap between Ben Roethlisberger and the next franchise quarterback.

While the results weren’t exactly favorable, Trubisky served in the role that I envisioned. As expected, his experience earned him the starting job for the Steelers to begin the season. Also as expected, his job was later lost to the heir-apparent in first-round pick, Kenny Pickett.

Like most backups, Trubisky would see the field from that point on only in the event of an injury. Unfortunately, a pair of concussions led to Trubisky getting his name called twice since getting benched.

While it is important to have a quality backup quarterback, there’s simply no way the Pittsburgh Steelers can justify keeping Trubisky around for the 2023 season.

Steelers must cut Mitch Trubisky in 2023 offseason

Mitch Trubisky is a quality football player — not starting caliber, but a quality backup rather. Nobody is denying that this is an important role. However, it’s extremely hard to justify paying great money for a player who went 1-3 as a starter in Pittsburgh.

According to Over the Cap, Trubisky is set to have a cap number of over $10.6 million in 2023. This would make the backup quarterback the 10th most expensive player on the roster. By releasing him during the 2023 offseason, Pittsburgh could save a whopping $8 million — money that they could throw back into a different backup and then some.

We can’t use the excuse that there aren’t other options out there. Next year, there are a plethora of names set to hit the market. These range from players like Jimmy Garoppolo, Baker Mayfield, and Sam Darnold to more of your true backups like Teddy Bridgewater, Andy Dalton, Case Keenum, and Jacoby Brissett.

Veteran quarterbacks like Taylor Heinicke, Cooper Rush, and Mike White each signed for under $2.6 million annually to be backups for their current teams, and they’ve found more success than Trubisky did in Pittsburgh.

Additionally, the Pittsburgh Steelers may be able to retain a familiar face with starting experience at a fraction of the price. We all know that Mason Rudolph clearly isn’t a starting-caliber quarterback, but he could still prove to be a serviceable backup. Some Steelers fans might actually prefer him to Trubisky anyway — regardless of the massive price difference.

At some point, the fact that Mitch Trubisky was a former second-overall pick should no longer matter. He’s just an average backup quarterback and there are dozens of guys like him that will hit the market next year. Even with some minor injury scares for Kenny Pickett, there is zero reasons to pay over $10 million for a player like Mitch Trubisky next season. The Pittsburgh Steelers will be able to find a very comparable option at a fraction of the price.