Author: Jarrett Bailey

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, let’s say the Steelers hold the 22nd pick next season. No matter who the quarterback is, they’ll all but certainly finish with at least nine wins like they usually do. If it’s Rodgers, regardless of how you feel about him, he’d be the best quarterback they’ve had since Roethlisberger retired and would likely be a playoff team.

So, the Steelers hold the 22nd pick and a total of 11 selections across all three days:

• Round 1, Pick 22
• Round 2, Pick 43
• Round 3, Pick 84
• Round 3 COMP
• Round 4, Pick 123
• Round 4 COMP
• Round 5, Pick 163
• Round 5 COMP
• Round 6, Pick 194
• Round 6 COMP
• Round 7, Pick 225

They could do something very similar to what the Bills did. For this exercise, we’ll see they’ll trade No. 22, the third-round comp pick, and No. 123 to move up to No. 11. The Bills traded a player in their trade with the Cardinals, which the Steelers could also do. For this, though, they throw in a high Day Three pick in the following draft. From there, they can send a flood of picks to move up into the 5-7 range, especially targeting teams that won’t be in the market for a quarterback.

In this case, they’ll have more than enough ammunition to move up for their next quarterback. It would cost them at least 12 and 53 in this scenario, as well as at least one Day Three pick and likely a first-round pick in 2027. If that’s what it costs, so be it. If you don’t have a quarterback, everything else on your roster means nothing. With the 2026 NFL Draft being held in Pittsburgh, what better place to go all in, make multiple leaps ahead of other teams, and land the next face of the franchise?

The Steelers may have their eye on selecting Egbuka in the first round

The Pittsburgh Steelers finally made their big splash at wide receiver this offseason, trading for DK Metcalf and immediately signing him to a four-year, $132 million extension, taking his total remaining contract up to five years worth $150 million. The Steelers may not be done adding big-name receivers to their roster.

According to Tony Pauline, the Steelers’ “decision-makers” met with Ohio State Emeka Egbuka on Tuesday ahead of the Buckeyes’ pro day on Wednesday.

Should the Steelers be interested in taking Egbuka in the first round, that could lead to theories of George Pickens being traded being confirmed. It’s not likely that the Steelers would pay Pickens on top of paying Metcalf. Plus, he and Metcalf largely do the same things. Moving him to a team in need of a wide receiver for draft compensation would make sense.

Egbuka had a terrific season with the Buckeyes, catching 81 passes for over 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns. Adding him to be the route technician at the X while Metcalf takes the top off the defense as the Z would give the Steelers a more balanced passing game.

The captain felt his words were misconstrued

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ search for a quarterback just got a whole lot clearer. With Russell Wilson signing with the New York Giants, the Steelers have one candidate left to be their starter for 2025 – Aaron Rodgers.

The Super Bowl champion quarterback visited the Steelers’ facility last week, reportedly meeting with general manager Omar Khan, head coach Mike Tomlin, and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Considering his only other feasible team just signed Wilson, the Steelers look like his only option.

Cam Heyward made headlines when he discussed the possibility of signing Rodgers on his podcast Not Just Football. He said he isn’t going on a darkness retreat to recruit Rodgers, and that it wasn’t any skin off his back if Rodgers didn’t become a Steeler. He joined Good Morning Football to seemingly clarify those comments.

“It was misconstrued,” Heyward said. “From my point of view, I was asked a question – would you go to the lengths of going to a darkness retreat to recruit Aaron Rodgers? I said, ‘I’m not doing that.’ The pitch is if you want to be a Steeler, be a Steeler. That’s all it was. It wasn’t meant [as] I don’t like Aaron Rodgers. When I look at our team right now, it would be really cool to have a guy like Aaron Rodgers. But I can’t be the guy who gets it over the finish line. He’s gotta make those decisions for himself, but I’m excited to see what happens.”

Heyward was active in recruiting Russell Wilson last offseason, as Wilson noted in his introductory press conference that a long facetime with Heyward was one of the deciding factors that made him sign with the Steelers.

While nothing is certain, it does seem that the likeliest outcome of this saga is Rodgers signing on the dotted line with the Steelers.