4 Steelers players who won't be back in 2024

The Steelers are desperate for spending money, and these four players won't be returning next season.

Steelers, Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers, Pittsburgh Steelers | Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
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Mitch Trubisky, QB

Of all the names on this list, Mitch Trubisky might be the most disappointing of the group. The former Bears' QB and second overall pick back in 2017 was expected to be one of the better backup quarterbacks in the league -- which is why the Steelers handed him a contract extension in 2023 after already giving him a two-year, $14.285 million deal during the 2022 offseason.

Sadly, the Steelers didn't get close to what they paid for. When Kenny Pickett went down with an ankle injury in the first half of the Cardinals game in Week 13, Trubisky failed to muster up any sort of offseason. Under his leadership, Pittsburgh managed just 41 total points for the three-week span he was in the lineup in the second half of the 2023 season.

Trubisky dug the Steelers into a major hole that Mason Rudolph did his best to climb out of when it was his turn to shine. After being demoted to the third-string QB holding a clipboard on the sidelines, there's no recovering from this.

Mitch Trubisky has an unreasonably high cap number of over $7.5 million in each of the next two seasons. This is more than any team can afford to pay for a third-string quarterback. The Steelers will eat over $4.6 million in dead money with just a cap savings of $2.9 million, but there's almost no chance Trubisky will return to Pittsburgh in 2024.

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