The Steelers season is officially over, and with the offseason now the focus of this team, I wanted to take some time to break down this team position by position. This will be both a primer for who will stay or go in the offseason as well as who could be added. This series will go position by position as we head toward the new league year.
We start with the quarterback room, and it is one of the biggest question marks on the team as of now. Ideally, this is a unit that would have provided some answers, but we head into 2024 with nothing resolved. Here is my offseason breakdown of the quarterback room.
Steelers QB room assessment
There was arguably no bigger disappointment on this team this season than the play of their quarterback room. The team took the last offseason to build an offense that wasn’t even going to rely on elite quarterback play. The hope was for Kenny Pickett to take some steps forward in a very forgiving offense.
That never occurred. Sure, Matt Canada limited this offense, but even after he was let go, Pickett still struggled to make an impact. In total, Pickett threw for just over 2000 yards and added six scores to four interceptions. Those aren’t stats that are going to win you games.
That wasn’t the only issue with the room either. Veteran backup Mitch Trubisky had to step into the starting role, and on paper, that shouldn’t have been a huge drop off considering his contract and the play of Pickett. Instead, Trubisky led the Steelers along their worst stretch of the season.
The only bright spot was Mason Rudolph. No, he wasn’t elite, but he played the position like the Steelers had schemed it up. He allowed the run game to handle the brunt of the workload while attacking the middle of the field taking some vertical shots to keep opposing defenses honest. He was the best of the bunch, albeit that isn’t saying a lot.
Frankly, I don’t think you can say the franchise option is on this team, and if you don’t have that guy, you need to find him. That is easier said than done, and with a later draft pick, it may not be in the cards this year. That said, this position as a whole was a letdown.