The Pittsburgh Steelers have found themselves in a bit of an unexpected quarterback controversy heading into the 2024 season. The team thought they were all set with the future on the roster after drafting Kenny Pickett. Pickett had outperformed veteran Mitch Trubisky during his rookie season in 2022 and ultimately won the starting job. Trubisky found himself in the number two spot, except for when Pickett was injured and could not play.
Then in 2023, Pickett was injured during the Week 13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Once again, the team relied on Trubisky to come in and take over under center. Unfortunately, Trubisky was not able to get the job done, losing that game, as well as the next two, which dropped the team to 7-7 for the season. That led to familiar territory with Trubisky as he was benched again, this time for longtime Steelers backup Mason Rudolph. Rudolph surprised pretty much everyone by coming in and winning the final three games of the season. This helped Pittsburgh make it into the playoffs.
Now, although Head Coach Mike Tomlin said that he believes the Steelers' 2024 quarterback is in the building, fans and analysts have been linking Pittsburgh to every quarterback under the sun. That includes Mac Jones, Ryan Tannehill, Russell Wilson, and the new flavor of the week, Justin Fields.
Steelers Fans Sound Quarterback Thirsty
All this talk about bringing in a new quarterback has former Steelers offensive guard Ramon Foster all riled up. Foster spent 11 seasons with the Steelers protecting Ben Roethlisberger and he knows all about the quarterback fit in the Steel City. He now co-hosts a podcast with Pittsburgh sports reporter Dejan Kovacevic that airs on DK Pittsburgh Sports called The Ramon Foster Show.
On a recent episode, the two discussed all the fervor over bringing Fields to Pittsburgh. Foster said he is shocked by how Steelers fans are acting. They sound like they are willing to settle for someone who has proven to just be okay. Someone who has "potential" according to fans. He doesn't have any more potential, said Foster, than Pickett does and he doesn't see the point in the shift.
"Do you see Baltimore making these types of moves? Like this type of scrambling and searching for a franchise quarterback is very Cleveland of y'all to be asking this type of stuff," admonishes Foster.
This gets a laugh out of Kovacevic who said that Foster just "dunked on everybody" watching the show. Foster said he defends his stance on how this kind of frantic hunt is not how Pittsburgh does things.
"It is, it's very Cleveland of you. Like go get your guy through the draft and you know he fits your DNA," adds Foster.
He goes on to say that he truly wants to see Fields find himself in an offense where he can flourish. Foster doesn't believe that Fields has been set up for success by his current team, the Chicago Bears. Fields has had three different offensive coordinators during his three seasons in the league. Taking him from Chicago and giving him yet another new coordinator and system to adjust to might not be in his or the team's best interests, especially as he has only one year left before the team has to decide on the fifth-year option on his contract.
According to Foster, all of this is new to Pittsburgh because Roethlisberger is not with the team anymore. Many fans can't even remember life without him under center. But Foster said the team currently has Pickett and Rudolph on the roster, Trubisky was released, and they are two very viable options that are at least as good as Fields. This is especially true of Rudolph. Foster has been clear for some time that he believes Rudolph has what it takes to be the starter.
"A lot of people were saying, 'Kenny is the guy,' but some of the big networks calls out Justin Fields to be the guy and nobody is mentioning Kenny no more. When it comes to somebody else's used goods, as in Justin Fields, and yes he's younger, and yes he's from a new team and you don't know a lot about him, and yes he was a top 10 pick, but you had a guy in your building do some really good things for your team at the end of the year and it's hard to believe that Mason could be your dude. It's more believable to people from Justin than from Mason."
Kovacevic said that he is shocked that people have been begging for Fields. He noted that he is a quarterback who turns the ball over twice a game and is being thrown about like he is a "slam dunk." During his three seasons, he had a completion percentage of 60.3%, 6,674 passing yards, and 40 touchdowns to 30 interceptions. His passing game needs help.
Where he really gets the attention of fans is as a rusher. He can extend plays and quickly evade defenders. While he is not Lamar Jackson, in part because he doesn't have Jackson's offensive line, he has rushed during those three seasons for 2,220 yards and another 14 touchdowns.
Foster said that he just doesn't see the risks being worth it. The only way he would consider it is for a fifth-round pick or later. Fields has not shown that he has the skills that warrant a bigger risk.
More must-reads: