The Pittsburgh Steelers are desperate for quarterback help—and not just for a stop-gap option who can man the position in 2026. After falling short of playoff success for the ninth straight season, the Steelers will begin a new era with Mike McCarthy and his recently hired coaching staff. This should also come with a change at the quarterback position.
The team is rumored to be awaiting a decision from Aaron Rodgers. The 42-year-old is one of the few respectable options on the market, and at the risk of going with something worse, the Steelers could run it back with the future Hall of Famer.
But there's another choice available... and based on the latest contract projections, this is a no-brainer for Pittsburgh.
Pro Football Focus projected the market value of the top free agent quarterbacks by predicting their average annual salaries on their next deals. At the top of the list is reclamation QB Daniel Jones. After a strong 2025 campaign with the Colts, Jones is expected to earn north of $33.6 million per season—even while recovering from a season-ending Achilles injury.
The next two names on the list are Aaron Rodgers and Malik Willis. Willis, a third-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, is coming off a promising two-year stint as the backup to Jordan Love with the Green Bay Packers. And the choice for Pittsburgh couldn't be easier.
The Pittsburgh Steelers should sign QB Malik Willis in free agency
Based on PFF's projections, Willis is projected to earn $20 million per season on a new deal with Rodgers bringing in $15 million in free agency (with Rodgers' almost certainly coming as a one-year deal).
This makes the decision extremely easy for the Steelers: go with Willis.
Though Willis has just six games of starting experience in his first four seasons, he flashed impressive upside with the Packers. When filling in for Love over the past two seasons, Willis completed 70 of 89 passes (78.7 percent) for 972 yards (10.9 yards per attempt) with six touchdowns and no interceptions.
This production, which came over the course of 11 times seeing the field (three starts) equated to a 134.6 passer rating and an outstanding 12.27 adjusted yards per attempt. What's most impressive is that Willis averaged 8.6 intended air yards per pass attempt during his time in Green Bay, per advanced stats from Pro Football Reference (Rodgers was at 6.0 in this department last season).
With just three starts over the past three seasons, Willis is hardly guaranteed to be a success in Pittsburgh. There's a chance that the Steelers could blow their money in an effort to find a Sam Darnold-like reclamation project who proves to be just a backup-level player.
Regardless, the upside of potentially striking gold on Malik Willis is worth far more than a capped-out Aaron Rodgers would be entering his age-43 season.
While $20 million per season might seem steep for a largely unproven quarterback like Willis, this would be good for just the 20th-highest-paid QB in the NFL, in terms of average annual salary—tying him with Jets QB Justin Fields.
When it's all said and done, teams might get into a bidding war for Willis, which could greatly increase his contract figures from what Sportrac projects. But if not, the Pittsburgh Steelers should be all over the 26-year-old QB with his affordable projected salary in free agency.