Steelers have clear plan at quarterback in place

Omar Khan has an obvious plan in place

This isn’t familiar territory for the Pittsburgh Steelers. At least it didn’t used to be. Having a future Hall of Fame quarterback under center for the better part of 20 years makes you forget what not having a quarterback feels like. Personally speaking, Roethlisberger was the quarterback from when I was in kindergarten until the year after I graduated from college. Fans my age haven’t ever had to deal with the purgatory of rooting for a team without a franchise quarterback until very recently.

Since Roethlisberger retired, though, the Steelers have had five different starting quarterbacks:

1. Mitch Trubisky: 7 starts (2-5)
2. Kenny Pickett: 24 starts (14-10)
3. Mason Rudolph: 4 starts (3-1)
4. Justin Fields: 6 starts (4-2)
5. Russell Wilson: 12 starts (6-6)

The list will get longer in 2025, with it looking all but certain that Aaron Rodgers will be the man under center for the Steelers. If for some reason he goes elsewhere or doesn’t play at all, Rudolph is the man who will get the nod. But the vision for the Steelers and the quarterback position isn’t focused on this coming season, and that is evident by their handling of the position this year.

• Pittsburgh reportedly isn’t offering Rodgers more than a one-year deal. On top of that, they didn’t match the New York Jets’ offer for Justin Fields, even though it was widely reported he was their top choice. They weren’t in on a trade for Geno Smith, nor did they give Sam Darnold a massive deal (neither of which they should have done, to be fair). What they have done, though, is hoard compensatory picks like Smaug hoarding gold. Currently, Pittsburgh has four comp picks in 2026, which is the maximum a team can have in any given draft. They are projected as follows:
• LT Dan Moore: Third-round comp
• QB Justin Fields: Fourth-round comp
• QB Russell Wilson: Fifth-round comp
• RG James Daniels: Sixth-Round Comp

Wilson’s fifth-round comp has the potential to become a third if incentives are hit. Regardless, the Steelers will almost certainly use these picks as ammo to trade up in the 2026 NFL Draft to select their next hopeful franchise quarterback. Now, you may be thinking that Pittsburgh won’t be able to trade up into prime quarterback territory on comp picks alone, and you’d be correct. I’d expect them to do something similar to what the Buffalo Bills did in 2018 to get Josh Allen.

Buffalo sat with the 21st overall pick after a Wild Card berth in 2017. They moved up to No. 12 in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals, trading pick No. 21 and No. 185 along with offensive tackle Cordy Glenn in exchange for the No. 12 pick and the 187th pick. From there, they traded picks 12, 53, and 56 to the Buccaneers to get up to No. 7 to take Allen.

So, if you’ll walk with me for a minute,...