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Flavell: Steelers Aren't Serious About Keeping Mitch Trubisky

The Pittsburgh Steelers are putting up a smoke screen about their backup quarterback.

Cody Flavell

In this story:

Art Rooney II met with the media for his 2022 season wrap-up of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He broached many topics from Matt Canada to trading Chase Claypool mid-season to Mike Tomlin’s contract status.

He also was asked about Mitch Trubisky and how he fits into next year’s team.

"I expect Mitch will be on the roster next year and be an effective backup if we need him," Rooney said. "I think he showed that he can be that. We can win with him."

I’m here to predict that this is nothing more than just not giving away their offseason plans because Trubisky returning doesn’t make much sense for either party.

For Trubisky, he was likely promised the opportunity to start for the majority of last season, a contract he signed just a week before Kenny Pickett was drafted with the team’s first-round selection. Upon seeing Pickett taken, the thought had to creep into Trubisky’s mind that he may be on a fairly short leash and that leash was cut off at halftime of Week 4.

Trubisky even mentioned towards the end of the season that, in hindsight, he wishes he would’ve weighed all his options and dig some more thinking before jumping the gun to sign his deal with the Steelers at the open of free agency.

On the Steelers end, they would have one of the better backups in the NFL for a reasonably affordable price. Trubisky might be one of the better low end starters in the league for a team that doesn’t currently have aspirations of being a playoff team. Cutting or even trading Trubisky would save $8 million against the salary cap which is money the Steelers could allocate elsewhere for things they really need.

Having a quarterback on a rookie quarterback is a huge plus because it allows you to spend money on other areas of the team. Having a backup that costs what Trubisky does isn’t necessarily the worst use of money but would be better spent on finding help in the middle linebacker or secondary portion of the Steelers defense.

Trubisky fell short of what the Steelers needed him to be in Pittsburgh. He came off very conservative in his first four starts not bothering to push the ball downfield. The beginning of Pickett’s career came off much the same way so that could’ve been more scheme related.

Trubisky then came up huge in the second half leading the Steelers to victory against Tampa Bay after Pickett suffered his first concussion of the season. He got into the game again in the loss to Baltimore in Week 14 on the third drive of the game but threw three interceptions that seemed to all but end the Steelers’ chance at making the playoffs despite facing both Baltimore’s second and third string starting quarterback in the game.

Trubisky redeemed himself the following week as he started over Pickett as Pickett still hadn’t cleared concussion protocol from the previous week. He didn’t throw any touchdowns but he didn’t turn the ball over and managed the game well going 17-of-22 for 179 yards and getting a much needed win.

He seemed more loose and willing to throw downfield knowing he had nothing to lose.

There’s certainly other guys like Ahkello Witherspoon or Levi Wallace who could be used as cap casualties to keep the reliable backup behind Kenny Pickett. But if the Steelers want to really improve as a team, there’s a better chance the $8 million saved by jettisoning Trubisky could be put to good use on someone that could instead protect Kenny Pickett on the offensive line or bolster an already loaded defense.

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Cody Flavell
CODY FLAVELL

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