Takeaway: Steelers Are Not the 'Best Fit' For Jameis Winston

For some reason, Jameis Winston continues to be linked to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and it's while it's easy to see why, it's impossible to see how.

PITTSBURGH -- Last month, Peter King said he'd like to see Jameis Winston head to Pittsburgh to revamp his career behind Ben Roethlisberger. A year after joining the 30 touchdowns 30 interceptions club, the free agent quarterback is uncertain what teams expect from him. Leaving the Steelers as his best option.

Sitting behind Roethlisberger for a season or two would allow him to learn from a future Hall of Famer and improve on his decision making. At only 26-years-old, Winston has plenty of career left and could use this as a year to get himself back into the top of the league at his position. 

This time, ESPN jumped on the Winston to the Burgh scenario. According to Matt Bowen, Winston's career has a best-case-scenario this spring and it's landing with the Steelers. 

"That’s why I’m looking at Pittsburgh on a one-year deal, where Winston would settle for a backup role to Ben Roethlisberger for Mike Tomlin’s team," Bowen wrote. "Given Roethlisberger’s injury history, it would allow the Steelers to upgrade the depth chart with a backup quarterback carrying legit starting experience. And the 26-year-old Winston could restart his career and work on his game."

Roethlisberger is expected to be cleared to return to the field around June. With firm confidence coming from general manager Kevin Colbert at the NFL Combine, expectations are for the quarterback to be fully ready to lead this team by the beginning of the 2020 season. 

"I think that the possibility is real that he could be a better football player coming out of this surgery, just as much as he might be a more regressed player," Colbert told the media. "So, I think we have to give that the nod and, again, I'm encouraged and excited about where he can go."

Head coach Mike Tomlin and Colbert have both said numerous times this offseason that Mason Rudolph is the backup behind Roethlisberger this season. They've also mentioned they feel confident in the options in-house. This includes Devlin Hodges, Paxton Lynch and J.T. Barrett.

Takeaway - No, it's not impossible to think of Jameis Winston coming to Pittsburgh and changing his career. Working behind Ben for a season or two would be a huge boost for a player who is already talented enough to be a starter in this league. 

For Winston's sake, being a Steeler is the best situation he can be in. Working behind a quarterback he can learn from, who he somewhat resembles, should fine tune the issues he had in turnovers. A year or two away from being a starter isn't ideal, but if his goal is to throw less than 30 interceptions a season, it could be what he needs. 

Then, there's the Steelers' side. Outside of the fact that any team would love to have Jameis Winston as their backup quarterback, Pittsburgh has nothing that says they'd be able to make this happen. 

Right now, they sit with roughly $1.3 million in available cap space. With almost no money, they're tasked with tagging Bud Dupree and possibly Javon Hagrave. Then, they need to sign or tender players like Mike Hilton, Zach Banner, Matt Feiler and others. 

Creating cap room is going to be too tall of challenge to start the new year off with let alone trying to add a backup quarterback. Even if Winston is willing to take a pay cut - which he is reportedly looking for $30 million-plus - it's going to be somewhere around the $10 million range (a hefty drop in price for a 26-year-old starter). 

No way. 

The list of priorities for the Steelers isn't deep but it's complicated. They want to retain as much of this team as possible before they start looking for more pieces to the puzzle. 

Yes, they saw just how much it hurt to not have a backup quarterback last year. Yes, Winston is certainly an upgrade from Mason Rudolph. No, it's not a big enough concern to spend unnecessary money on a worst-case-scenario. 

Winston would be the perfect fit to sit behind Roethlisberger and potentially become the next quarterback of the Steelers. But outside of the belief that he would be a quality backup, there's nothing that says Jameis Winston is coming to Pittsburgh.