Steelers' Mike Tomlin Commits to Mitch Trubisky as QB2, But Team Could Draft Another One

The Steelers chose to stick with Trubisky during the 2023 free agent period, even though he costs $10.625 million against the cap, and cutting him would've saved $8 million. While he is definitely one of the better backups in the league, it was a bit of a risk to keep a backup with that high of a cap hit, although it turned out to be a good choice, as backups like Taylor Heinicke received around $10 million per year. While keeping Trubisky is an expensive move, it appears to be the right move.

Mason Rudolph provided great depth at quarterback, but he is a free agent and doesn't want to come back to Pittsburgh. He lost the chance to at least be active each week after Trubisky and Pickett took over at QB1 and QB2. The former third rounder struggled to develop after three different unfortunate scenarios in 2019 while he was taking over for Ben Roethlisberger. Since then, he was the primary backup until 2022. With him leaving, the Steelers are hoping to find someone solid, just in case they happen to unfortunately have a repeat of 2019. 

How would the Steelers find more depth for the quarterback position?

The Steelers could try and get another veteran presence for an offense that is still young. They could try and give the vet minimum to someone like Chase Daniel, or they could sign Brian Hoyer, who's been praised by the New England Patriots for basically being another coach on the roster, similar to when Joshua Dobbs was a Steeler. They could try to snag a former division rival in Brandon Allen to try and do a little bit more than acting as depth.

The most likely scenario would be the Steelers using a day three pick on a young quarterback. With only three picks on the last day, they would have to make a crucial decision on when they want to draft one. They could use their fourth-round pick on someone like Clayton Tune, or they could use one of their seventh rounders on someone that could potentially fall to them, like Stetson Bennett IV. They have plenty of options, but don't expect to use a pick in the first three rounds to be on a backup, even if Trubisky does not stay in Pittsburgh once the 2023 season ends.