Kenny Pickett vs. Mitchell Trubisky: Who is winning Steelers’ QB1 battle to replace Ben Roethlisberger?
The Steelers rolled with Ben Roethlisberger as the starting quarterback for 17 years. This series will end in 2022.
The 2021 NFL season was Roethlisberger’s last in the NFL. He retired after the team lost to the Chiefs in the first round of the playoffs, and with good reason. Injuries had sapped his throwing power and most of his mobility late in his career, and that made it difficult for him to be anything other than a dink-and-dunk quarterback.
Pittsburgh faces uncertainty as it ushers in a new era in quarterback. It didn’t land any of the high-end quarterbacks on the trade market during the 2022 NFL offseason, instead adding several players with advantages to compete for the starting job.
The Steelers signed Mitchell Trubisky as a free agent and then listed their first-round draft pick to Kenny Pickett. Those two, along with project seventh-round quarterback Chris Oladokun, have joined fifth-year Steeler Mason Rudolph on a depth chart that doesn’t have a clear pick for the top.
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It looks like it’s going to be a three horse race. Coach Mike Tomlin hinted in a recent interview that Trubisky, Pickett and Rudolph all advocate becoming the No. 1 QB.
You make it difficult for us. It’s hard to manage three capable guys, but they force us to do it because they make the moves. You expect the timing was good [and] the accuracy was good.
The trio may give Tomlin a hard time, but one of them seems to have the inside lead for the starting job. Here’s what you should know about the status of the Steelers’ preseason quarterback fight between Trubisky, Pickett and Rudolph.
What Mike Tomlin Said About Kenny Pickett
The Steelers had unique access to Pickett ahead of the 2022 NFL Draft. The team shares facilities with Pitt’s football program. Pickett was a four-year starter for the Panthers, so Tomlin and co. got a close look at him.
They liked what they saw.
“One of the things that was very obvious about Kenny being next door is that he’s just a ridiculous competitor,” Tomlin told Rich Eisen in NFL Network’s Day 3 coverage of the 2022 draft. “So we’re excited just looking forward to adding him into the mix and watching him take on Mitch and Mason and see where that takes us.”
As Tomlin implied, Pickett was not guaranteed the team’s starter, despite being selected in the first round. The coach wanted to play out Pittsburgh’s unsettled quarterback situation and see if Pickett could beat Trubisky and Rudolph.
But Tomlin was quick to confirm that Pickett would be a good fit for the job.
He definitely has a chance [to be our Week 1 starter]. I agree with this feeling of his readiness from a professional point of view.
In this interview with Eisen, Tomlin explained why the Steelers issued a first-round pick for Pickett.
“There were two things that really drew us to him from a floor standpoint,” said Tomlin. “We thought he had a pro-level anticipation. We thought he had pro-level accuracy. Often those are two variables that really require a lot of adjustment from the quarterback’s perspective. We felt like he was ready that way. Hopefully that’s an asset for him to be competitive and ready when his performance calls for it.”
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Fast forward to training camp, and at least some of Pickett’s pro-readiness is showing. Tomlin praised Pickett’s consistency in an Aug. 9 interview with CBS Sports.
Kenny P, I don’t think you can put him in an environment where he gets nervous. . . . We saw that with Pitt and it was the same. It doesn’t matter what drill or environment you put him in. He’s Steady Eddy and he’s really cool.”
Despite this characterization, Pickett was #3 on the inaugural Steelers quarterback depth chart of the 2022 preseason. The #1 player on that list was one of the team’s big free-agent acquisitions.
What Mike Tomlin Said About Mitchell Trubisky
Tomlin said in the same Aug. 9 interview with CBS Sports that Trubisky would start if the season started the next day.
The Steelers coach praised all three quarterbacks in the competition but said a key trait made Trubisky stand out from the crowd.
“Mitch’s silver bullet, if you will, is his fluidity and mobility,” Tomlin said. “He’s a really good athlete.”
Tomlin said during the 2022 off-season that the franchise will prioritize mobility as it searches for a replacement for Roethlisberger. So it’s no surprise that Trubisky would be his starter at this point in the competition.
Tomlin’s support for Trubisky was notable as he was unwilling to call the 27-year-old the team’s starter at other times during the offseason.
March, said Tomlin that the Steelers “were attracted to [Trubisky’s] above.”
He is young and experienced. He won – to be perfectly honest, he probably won more than anyone else that was on the field and he didn’t cost us any draft capital. It allowed us to keep all of our picks and you know how we feel about building our team through the draft. So there were a lot of things about him that we found attractive.
Then, in April, the Steelers drafted Pickett, Tomlin said in May he could become the starter, and in June he said he expected “tough” competition for the starting job.
But now Trubisky is #1 on the Steelers’ first quarterback depth chart. He will try to use the pre-season to prove he belongs there in the long term.
MORE: Steelers’ Mike Tomlin explains why Trubisky leads the QB contest
What Mike Tomlin Said About Mason Rudolph
With the acquisitions of Trubisky, Pickett, and Oladokun, the fact that Rudolph was still on the list was lost.
Rudolph is in his fifth year with the Steelers. The 2018 third-round pick has started 10 games for Pittsburgh and has a 5-4-1 record, 61.5 completion rate, 2,366 yards, 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Rudolph never laid claim to the Steelers’ starting job. Even while injured, Roethlisberger shared quarterback time with Duck Hodges, in part because of Rudolph’s injuries and Hodges’ solid game.
Despite this, Tomlin did not disqualify Rudolph from the competition. He has at times praised the veteran in the off-season. He noted in late May that Rudolph was handling himself well in the quarterback fight.
He took the chances. He has been described in detail. He is good at communicating with others. He was competitive. Nothing out of the ordinary in terms of his approach to business.
Not only does Tomlin like Rudolph’s approach, but he noted in his August interview with CBS Sports that Rudolph “throws a really good deep ball.” That was enough to keep him competitive, and his veteran status has put him second on the depth chart ahead of Pickett.
Still, Rudolph appears to be the longest shot of the three to win the starting job. He might not even make the Steelers roster if Trubisky and Pickett show enough preseason. Pittsburgh can save $3 million by splitting with Rudolph.
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Who will start the Steelers’ first preseason game?
Trubisky is expected to start the Steelers’ first preseason game, but all of Pittsburgh’s quarterbacks are expected to start in Week 1 of the preseason. Tomlin hasn’t said if the preseason week 2 rotation will change.