Airing of Grievances: Discontent with the State of the Steelers

The Steelers quarterback room

One of the worst parts of this team is the current makeup of their quarterback room. Despite investing in the position over the past two years, the players there aren’t holding up. Add in the fact that quarterback is the most important position on the field and this looks like a big mess overall.

Kenny Pickett is the incumbent starter after being the first-round pick a season ago. He has looked bad as a starter, to say the least. On top of poor play, he also can’t statistically find any footing. He rarely scores and progresses through reads poorly. All of this for a low-ceiling player was supposedly a “safe” prospect.

This is even more frustrating when you look at the rest of the NFL and the quarterback position. Backups and no-names have played better than Pickett has. A decrepit Joe Flacco has helped get the Browns on track, and completely unknown undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito has more passing touchdowns than Pickett this year.

The backups aren’t much better. The Steelers opted to extend Mitch Trubisky despite him losing the starting job. He is a well-paid and vested backup, so the expectation is that he can deliver for this team if needed. That hasn’t been the case in the absence of Pickett due to injury. While Mason Rudolph suddenly has a strong fanbase seemingly out of nowhere, he isn’t some sort of savior either.

While coaching hasn’t been great, even after the firing of Matt Canada, it is a horrible look for this team that all of these backup quarterbacks are coming in and playing better than anyone in the Steelers room. This position is bleak, and there aren’t many great options to get this team out of this mess.