The Pittsburgh Steelers revamped their QB room ahead of the 2024 season. They signed Russell Wilson and traded for Justin Fields. Both were a little better than mediocre, but not enough to end Pittsburgh’s postseason win drought. After Wilson’s ugly finish to the season, it seemed the plan was to re-sign Fields and give him the reins for 2026, with Wilson serving as a backup plan.
Advertisement
Unfortunately, both ended up signing for New York; Fields with the Jets, and Wilson with the Giants. That left the Steelers scrambling. To solve the issue, they traded a second-round pick for mercurial wideout D.K. Metcalf and traded mercurial wideout George Pickens for a third-round pick. You might notice that the solution didn’t include signing a QB.
That’s because all they’ve done is chase Aaron Rodgers, bring back Mason Rudolph, and draft Will Howard in the sixth round since then.
At this point, no matter who starts Week 1 for Pittsburgh, they’re in dire straits. The rest of the roster does look decent, as usual, but those quarterback options are far from exciting. Despite this, Fox analyst James Jones believes head coach Mike Tomlin’s job will be safe in 2025 no matter what. Then, they can target their real franchise QB in 2026.
“Mike’s good. Mike’s good. The Pittsburgh Steelers … they don’t fire coaches. Mike Tomlin has been in the playoffs every single year almost, and no losing seasons, since he’s been the head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s totally fine. And to be honest with you, I think their plan is, even if Aaron Rodgers does not show up, it is okay to have an average season this year, and get our quarterback of the future next year. I really do believe that.”
.@89JonesNTAF believes Mike Tomlin, Steelers will survive without Aaron Rodgers:
"It’s ok to have an average season this year and get your QB next year." pic.twitter.com/pIJtBQmaeY
— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) May 9, 2025
If the Steelers were not willing to wait until that strong 2026 QB class, they would have made a move earlier than the sixth round of the draft. As Jones outlined, they showed where their priorities are and what their QB timeline is by where they placed emphasis in the draft.
“They showed you in the draft this year, drafting another d-tackle, two more defenders on top of that, getting you a running back, Steelers style football. And next year we’ll go into the draft, and we’ll get our quarterback. So either way, if he wins two games, if he wins 12 games, Mike Tomlin is safe as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers and you go and get your quarterback of the future next year. And if Aaron Rodgers does come, then your team has a chance to compete. But he is not going anywhere.”
The other part to note here is that, no matter how the Steelers do in 2025, no matter where they end up picking in the 2026 NFL Draft based on their finish this upcoming season, they will have the ammo to move up.
Pittsburgh is expected to have a whopping 12 picks in next year’s draft (thanks in large part to a boatload of compensatory picks), which includes seven in the first four rounds. They probably won’t be able to get Arch Manning, but they’re likely to be able to trade up a significant way for one of the next men up.
And with the more proven Metcalf swapping out with Pickens at WR1, rookie Caleb Johnson pairing up with Jaylen Warren to create a thunder and lightning backfield, and an offensive line that is expected to be vastly improved after massive investment over the last two drafts, whoever they take in 2026 will be coming into a pretty swanky situation. Believe it or not, it seems Mr. .500 Mike Tomlin and company are playing the long game here.
