Steelers insane quarterback carousel between the Bradshaw and Roethlisberger eras

Tommy Maddox had one solid season with the Steelers before regressing

Kordell Stewart was seen as someone running out of time in Pittsburgh by the time the 2001 season rolled around. He had one of his best statistical seasons of his career that year, but the Steelers wanted to go in another direction. Tommy Maddox was an interesting signing in the offseason of 2001. He was coming off an MVP season for the XFL.

No one knew if that success could transfer over, especially since Maddox had time in the NFL before he jumped into the XFL. After being a backup for the entire 2001 campaign, it was an all-out competition for the starting spot in 2002. The Stewart experiment ran its course and the coaching staff seemed to have had enough that year.

They switched to Maddox, and he lit a spark on offense that season which led to only losing three of his 11 starts. He was totally different than Stewart was as he had a good pocket presence and threw more touchdowns than interceptions. The offense had a strong passing game now that could take some pressure off Jerome Bettis and the run game.

Maddox only had good success in that 2002 stretch of games when he finally took over for Stewart. After that, he had another solid year regarding his passing yardage, but everything else started to fizzle. The Steelers started to struggle again and were in the neighborhood looking for another quarterback to become a starter for them long-term.