The Pittsburgh Steelers have a quarterback conundrum to solve in the offseason. Quarterback
Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh’s starter for roughly two decades,
indicated during the year that this was his final season. Sources close to the organization recently helped
NFL insider Ian Rapoport piece together how the Steelers will approach their future at the quarterback position. According to Rapoport, current backups
Mason Rudolph and
Dwayne Haskins will battle it out for the starting job ahead of the 2022 season.
That being said, Pittsburgh is also likely to add a quarterback through the draft. Depending on how the team performs in the playoffs, the Steelers will have, at earliest, the 19th pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. One name to watch, according to Rapoport, is Pittsburgh quarterback and Heisman Trophy finalist
Kenny Pickett.
Pitt plays its home games at Heinz Field and the Panthers share various facilities with the Steelers, meaning that the franchise has been able to do plenty of firsthand research into Pickett. The all-time leading passer in Pittsburgh history, Pickett completed 67.2% of his passes for 4,319 yards and 42 touchdowns against seven interceptions, coming up just short of winning the Heisman as Alabama quarterback
Bryce Young won the award.
He guided the Panthers to a 10-2 regular season record, a win in the ACC Championship and a Peach Bowl tilt against Michigan State, which he opted out of to prepare for the draft. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Pickett, thanks in large part to his explosive sixth-year senior season, may not last till the second half of the draft.
Either way, Rapoport reiterates that Pittsburgh plans to allow Rudolph and Haskins to battle it out for the starting job while drafting a quarterback at some point during the draft to develop for the future.
The Steelers selected Rudolph with the 76th overall pick in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft. The Oklahoma State product has appeared in 17 games with 10 starts during his four years with the franchise, serving as Roethlisberger’s direct backup in that span.
In two games in 2021, Rudolph completed 35 passes for 277 yards and one touchdown to one interception. He got plenty of run in 2019 as Roethlisberger dealt with injury, starting eight games and passing for 1,765 yards and 13 touchdowns to nine interceptions.
As a former first-rounder, Haskins provides some intriguing upside. The Ohio State product was released by Washington in the middle of the 2020 season following struggles with performance and off-field issues.
Washington fined Haskins in October 2020 for violating the team’s COVID-19 protocols, which also resulted in him getting stripped of his captaincy. He was cut shortly thereafter and picked up by the Steelers in the offseason.
“Really, I’ve been more concerned about Dwayne the person,” Tomlin
said this past summer. “Getting to know him. Getting an understanding of what he’s been through and how that's shaped him, affected him positively, negatively. How it’s affected the growth and development of his game. I think more than anything, Dwayne and I are trying to get to know one another. I think it starts there and then we can focus on some things relative to the game itself.”
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