Not The Year For Pittsburgh Steelers To Draft QB Of Future

Many of the mock drafts floating around the internet in recent days have the Pittsburgh Steelers selecting a quarterback with their first pick in the NFL Draft this week.

The Steelers do not have a selection until the second round at 49^th overall. They traded their first-round pick early last season to the Miami Dolphins for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, a deal that worked out spectacularly well for Pittsburgh.

It is easy to understand why so many draft analysts are projecting the Steelers to take a quarterback.

Ben Roethlisberger suffered a season-ending elbow injury in Week 2 last year. While the Steelers are confident that he will be ready for the start of the upcoming season, he is also 38 years old.

It is fair to wonder how many more productive seasons the future Hall of Famer has left.

The Steelers’ lack of depth at quarterback was exposed when Roethlisberger was hurt. Second-year man Mason Rudolph and rookie Devlin “Duck” Hodges had never taken a snap in the NFL and the inexperience showed.

The Steelers went 5-3 when Rudolph started and 3-3 in Hodges’ starts, thanks primarily to a strong defense that keep the team in games.

The Steelers were 8-5 and in position to reach the playoffs before crumbling under the weight of a lousy offense and losing their last three games. The Steelers averaged just 18.1 points for the season, the sixth-worst mark in the league.

Yet, all indications are the Steelers do not plan to select a quarterback with their first pick. Pittsburgh believes it is better suited to helping the offense by adding a running back or wide receiver or both.

Furthermore, all the top quarterbacks will likely be off the board by the time the Steelers draft.

The Steelers are highly unlikely to trade into the first round because it would almost certainly mean including their first-round pick in 2021 in any deal.

Considering this will mark the first time since 1966 that the Steelers do not have a first-round selection, it seems inconceivable to see general manager Kevin Colbert trading two first-rounders in the span of eight months.

By the time the Steelers go on the clock in the middle of the second round, all the top-flight quarterbacks will likely be gone – LSU’s Joe Burrow, Alabama’s Tua Tagavailoa, Washington’s Justin Herbert and Utah State’s Jordan Love.

What would be left is a group topped by Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurt, Georgia’s Jake Fromm and Jacob Eason of Washington. All have talent but none is a surefire candidate to lead a team to a Super Bowl.

Roethlisberger has two years remaining on his contract. His cap number this year is a manageable $23.75 million but that skyrockets to $41.25 million in 2021.

At some point soon, the Steelers are going to have to plan for life without Big Ben.

Maybe in next year’s draft when the quarterback class will include Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Ohio State’s Justin Fields, Michigan’s Dylan McCaffrey, Georgia’s Jamie Newman and Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond.

Not this year, though.