Steelers Now
With the Pittsburgh Steelers stuck in quarterback purgatory and mediocrity, former Steelers free safety Ryan Clark thinks his former team should tank in 2025.
“They should want to lose,” Clark said on ESPN’s Get Up. “I know this goes against everything that’s black and yellow. But they’ve been a competitive team for the entire time that Mike Tomlin has been there. But since Ben Roethlisberger got to like the last two or three years of his career, they were not a championship contender.”
The Steelers haven’t had a losing season since 2003, which is by far the longest active streak in the NFL. The Steelers are tied for the longest non-losing season streak in NFL history with the Dallas Cowboys’ 21-year run from 1965-85.
They might need a reset year like in 2003 when they went 6-10. The losing season helped the Steelers land Ben Roethlisberger at No. 11 overall in the 2004 NFL Draft. And even then, the Steelers were fortunate that Roethlisberger was available after the Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns passed on him.
Having a losing season or top-10 pick is not the only way to acquire a franchise quarterback, however. But it is the easiest pathway. And next year’s quarterback class is loaded with talent.
“They play just well enough to never get a high enough pick to go get the next Ben Roethlisberger,” Clark said. “And you’re not gonna find that dude in free agency either. So whether it’s Mason Rudolph, whether it’s Aaron Rodgers, they should want to suck finally. They should want to get a top-10 pick in a quarterback draft that looks to be a lot better next year than the one there was this year.”
The 2026 NFL Draft class is absolutely loaded with talent. The class could include Texas’ Arch Manning, Penn State’s Drew Allar, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava, Oregon’s Dante Moore and Miami’s Carson Beck.
Warren Sharp of Sharp Football also thinks the Steelers need to essentially tank in 2025. The Steelers drafred Ohio State quarterback Will Howard in the sixth round, but he’s a developmental quarterback. As of now, the Steelers’ three quarterbacks on their roster are Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson and Howard.
The franchise continues to wait on Aaron Rodgers’ decision, as well. If the four-time league MVP spurns the Steelers, a tank job in 2025 very well could be in the cards for Pittsburgh.
“The Steelers must either find what they need in THIS draft to get over the hump… or tank for 2026. They can’t fall anywhere in the middle. Get their QB now… or fail & embarrass themselves like we’ve not seen this proud franchise fail in a generation,” Sharp wrote on X before the draft.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Ryan Clark Urges Steelers to Tank in 2025: ‘They Should Want to Lose’
