Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Lineage – 1933 to Pickett

If you had to name the greatest quarterback in Pittsburgh Steelers history, the first name that would come up might be Ben Roethlisberger. If not Big Ben, then it would be Terry Bradshaw. Aside from those two, there have been some particularly good quarterbacks from the time the Steelers entered the National Football League in 1933 to the current ensuing quarterback duel that could take place in training camp this summer. That competition will be between the proposed starter Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph if the latter ends up re-signing from the team. 

The very first starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1933 was Tony Holm. Since that time there have been 68 players who started at least one game for the Black and Gold. It was not a good start for the franchise known at that time as not the Steelers but the Pirates just like the baseball team in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh won three games, lost six, and tied twice but finished in last place in the East Division. The head coach was Forrest Douds and while the offense scored just 67 points, the defense got hammered for 208 points on the season. 

As for that first player to get under center, Tony Holm was listed as a fullback but that first season threw the ball 52 times completing only 17. He was intercepted 17 times and only three passes went for a touchdown. Seven other players threw passes, but Holm was the starter. Holm had been in the league for three years before 1933 and that one season with the Steelers became his last as he was out of football in 1934. 

In Pittsburgh’s second season, Warren Heller took over and he too lasted just one season with the Pirates. 1935 and 1936 saw two more men trying the role of quarterback first Johnny Gildea and then Ed Matesic. Max Fiske won the job in 1937 splitting time with Johnny Gildea. Fiske came back for another season in 1938 splitting time with Frankie Filchock and Byron “Whizzer” White. In the following years, the revolving door at quarterback as a franchise quarterback was yet to come.

Until Joe Geri came along in 1949, the succession of signal callers was Hugh McCullough, Billy Patterson, Boy Brumbauch, Coley McDonough, Bill Dudley, Roy Zimmerman, Allie Sherman, John Grigas, John McCarthy, Buss Warrant, and Johnny Clement. Clement would start in 1947 but also saw Charlie Seabright start a few games. Clement then shared time in 1948 with Ray Evans and Joe Gasparella until Joe Geri and Jim Finks took snaps in 1949. 

Geri won the job in 1950 and held on to that starting role in 1951 although Chuck Ortmann also got a few starts. Finally in 1952, the Steelers started Jim Finks who would start in the next three seasons backed up in 1953 by Bill Mackrides. Finks played his entire career in Pittsburgh and ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His career lasted until 1955 when he retired. Finks was selected in the NFL draft of 1949 by the Steelers with the 116th pick overall in the 12th round.

In ’52 Finks had a Pro Bowl season starting 12 games and passing for 2,307 yards with 20 touchdowns that led the NFL. But Finks also got picked off 19 times. The Steelers would finish. 5-7 for the season. Finks would finish his career with 8,622 yards passing but while throwing for 55 touchdowns he was intercepted an unthinkable 88 times.

When Finks hung up his cleats Ted Marchibroda started 11 games and Jack Scarbath one. The next season Earl Morrall was the starter and future Kansas City Chiefs star Len Dawson backed him up and got one start. That would one game in Pittsburgh would be Dawson’s only game as a Steeler. Then in 1958, the Detroit Lions made an unexpected move that would change their franchise for years. They traded star quarterback Bobby Layne to the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Angered by the trade, Lane was said to have told a reporter, “The Lions won’t win for the next 50 years.” Whether it is true or not because it was never written in any newspaper, in fact, the Detroit Lions spent the next 50 years with the sixth lowest winning percentage of any other NFL team. With Layne at quarterback, the Lions had won multiple NFL titles, and he led the league in several categories during his nine seasons in Detroit. Layne would spend five more in Pittsburgh. In those five seasons, the Steelers posted a winning record three times.

In 1960 and 1961 Layne shared playing time with Rudy Bukich and in 1962 with Ed Brown who became the starter the following year and again in 1964 while Bill Nelsen warmed up with one start and then became the starter in 1965 as Tommy Wade started two of the 14 games. In 1965 the Steelers were unsure as to who should start because Ron C. Smith was under center for seven games, Nelsen for five, and George Izo for two. Nelsen remained on the team in 1967 as he started in five games, but Kent Nix started in nine. 

As 1968 approached, Dick Shiner was named starting quarterback as Nix now rode the bench for all but three games in which he was the starter., Shiner held his job the following season but then the Steelers drafted the first of their two Terry-named quarterbacks first in ’69 with the selection of Notre Dame’s Terry Hanratty who would get five rookie season starts.

Pittsburgh’s future establishment as a 1970s dynasty began in 1970 when Terry Bradshaw came from Louisiana Tech to the Pittsburgh Steelers as the league’s first overall draft pick. Many fans will not know how Pittsburgh ended up with that first draft choice, but it is a true story that the Chicago Bears and Steelers finished 1969 with the worst record in the NFL at 1-13. Then commissioner Pete Rozelle decided the way to determine who got the first pick in the draft would be by a coin toss. George Halas, the owner of the Bears, and Art Rooney Sr. for Pittsburgh met with Rozelle and the Steelers won the toss thus selecting Bradshaw. Just think, if the coin flipped the other way, Terry Hanratty would have been the starter from 1970 and beyond instead of the “Blonde Bomber” who not only could have been a Chicago Bear but instead would be a part of four Super Bowl championship teams and end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Until Bradshaw retired in 1982, he was not the only starter. Hanratty got a few more starts and “Jefferson Street” Joe Gilliam beat out Bradshaw for the starting job in 1974 but Bradshaw would win his job back starting seven games that year, as Gilliam started six with Hanratty getting the start in the only other game. Due to injuries, Mike Kruczek started six games in 1976. Cliff Stoudt got one start in 1980. Then in 1981 with Bradshaw on the decline and fighting off injuries, Pittsburgh drafted Mark Malone with their first pick in the draft and the rookie got two starts in his rookie season. Bradshaw was the only starter in 1982 while players held a strike and only nine games were played.

1983 was Bradshaw’s last as he nursed a bum elbow, he started in just one game taking a back seat to Cliff Stoudt. Malone was given his opportunity to be the next franchise quarterback for the Steelers in 1984 and while he started only nine games, David Woodley would be calling the signals for six. The following season the Steelers practiced a revolving door with Malone having eight starts, Woodley six, and Scott Cambell two.

Malone would remain the starter from 1986 until 1988 and in those three years, many Steelers fans deem him as one of the worst Pittsburgh quarterbacks in history. The year Malone became full-time starter the Steelers drafted Bubby Brister out of Tulane University, and he became the new starter in 1988. Before he became quarterback #1 Steve Bono and Todd Blackledge were backing him up. Brister had some rather good success wearing Black and Gold but still, he was no Terry Bradshaw and the Rooney family continued looking for the next franchise quarterback. 

In 1991 Neil O’Donnell came on board and he was the closest to a franchise quarterback since Bradshaw and he would remain the Steelers starter for the next five seasons. In his final year with Pittsburgh the Steelers made the Super Bowl only to lose to the Dallas Cowboys as O’Donnell threw two awful interceptions that were the difference in the game. As the Steelers lost 27-17, O’Donnell instantly became the most hated man in Pittsburgh following that loss, and with that, he signed with the New York Jets in 1996.

In his first season with the Jets, O’Donnell started six games and New York lost them all. The Jets finished 1-15. The ex-Steelers quarterback would play one more season in New York then go to the Cincinnati Bengals for one season before becoming a backup in Tennessee until the end of his career in 2001. Steelers fans may also recall the AFC championship game in 1994 when in Pittsburgh the Black and Gold were playing the San Diego Chargers for the AFC championship and at the end of the game had a chance to head to the Super Bowl with a first and goal. Instead of using the great Barry Foster to try to run the ball in for a winning score, O’Donnel and Bill Cowher opted to try to throw a passing touchdown and advance, but every effort was futile, and it was the Chargers who headed to the Super Bowl.

With O’Donnell gone, Bill Cowher turned to Mike Tomczak, a former Bear to become their starter. But this was not until an opening day embarrassing loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars with Jim Miller calling the signals. Miller was benched, Tomczak started the rest of the way. In 1995 the Steelers drafted Kordell Stewart in the second round, a quarterback out of the University of Colorado. Instead of using him behind center, Stewart quickly became known as “Slash.” That is because he played quarterback part-time, part-time as a running back and filled in at wide receiver. The interesting part is the fact he excelled in all three positions. But Stewart wanted to be a full-time quarterback and he got his chance in 1997 when he won the job over Mike Tomczak and remained starter for the next five seasons. Stewart was not just fast and elusive, he had a great arm as well. He did get the Steelers to the playoffs several times and made an appearance in an AFC title game only to lose to Denver. 

Kent Graham was brought in for the year 2000 and got five starts but he was not particularly good. With Stewart’s skills beginning to erode, a former draft pick of the Denver Broncos, an indoor arena championship quarterback, and former UCLA standout Tommy Maddox came to the Steelers in 2002 and took away Kordell Stewart’s starting role. Maddox was the starter for the entire 2003 season and while he and the Steelers were a playoff team, they failed to get to another Super Bowl. Maddox was a passing machine and was a solid starter. But in 2004 Pittsburgh must have felt they still needed a franchise quarterback because, with the 11th overall pick in the NFL draft, they selected “Big Ben” Roethlisberger.

A big kid out of the University of Miami (Ohio) Roethlisberger came to the Steelers with a chip on his shoulder because he felt he should have been drafted earlier. A player never wants to lose his job to injury and the unwritten rule is that a player should not lose his job that way. But in 2004 in just the second game of the season, Maddox suffered a neck injury while playing the Baltimore Ravens and in came Roethlisberger and he never had to look over his shoulder as he became the full-time starter until the day he retired.

Obviously, Ben Roethlisberger did not play in every game of his career due to injuries. From 2004 until he retired three years ago, the Steelers saw several other players start games. Tommy Maddox hung around until 2005 and did get two more starts as did ex-Lion Charlie Batch. Dennis Dixon got one start. Batch stayed with the Steelers for years getting starts in 2010 with Dixon getting two. In 2011 Batch was in for one start and a couple in 2012 as former Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich was signed and started one game. 

In 2015, thinking Michael Vick might have some gas left in the tank and burst in his legs, the Steelers brought him in and let him start three games while draft pick Landry Jones got two. Jones was believed to be the eventual successor to Big Ben and got two starts in 2016, another in 2017, and then was released. Heading into 2019 Roethlisberger suffered a season-ending injury after just two games so Mason Rudolph another draft pick who was believed to be a possible franchise QB one day, started eight games but an injury forced Pittsburgh to sign Devlin “Duck” Hodges who quickly became a fan favorite with a fast start, and he was behind center for six games but eventually flopped. 

At this point it was Roethlisberger the rest of the way until he hung up the cleats. Mason Rudolph would get a few starts along the way and just two years ago the Steelers in this writer’s opinion the Pittsburgh Steelers did Mason Rudolph wrong in the worst way. Not only did they use their first-round pick on Pitt’s Kenny Pickett, but they also brought in embattled quarterback Mitch Trubisky who had bounced around from the Bears to the Bills to the Steelers. Trubisky was not the answer and instead of suiting up Rudolph and allowing him to fill for the awful play of Trubisky, Mike Tomlin decided to go with the rookie and a man deemed the next franchise quarterback, Kenny Pickett. 

Pickett’s rookie season was nothing to write home about although there were signs of progress and potential. This past season he began the season with a dismal performance at home against the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers after a spectacular pre-season. Pickett remained behind center until he was injured and again, Mitch Trubisky was called into action and not Mason Rudolph. As the Steelers were suffering a three-game losing streak that included losses to the league’s two worst teams, the Cardinals and Patriots, Tomlin opted to bench Trubisky and finally give Mason Rudolph his shot. 

Rudolph made the most of it leading the Steelers to three straight victories to end the season and propel them into the post-season. Facing Buffalo in the first round, the Steelers were overmatched but Rudolph remained the starter and did not play poorly. Now that the season has passed and sights are set toward the 2024 season, Pittsburgh has a quarterback controversy that perhaps no head coach would want.

Mason Rudolphi is a free agent and the Steelers coaching staff have the difficult decision of deciding who will be at the top of the depth chart at quarterback next season. It seems their pledge is to Kenny Pickett and giving him full opportunity to establish himself as a solid #1. But given Rudolph’s play at the end of the season, the Steelers are in a real dilemma. Do they bring Rudolph back who certainly does not want to return as a backup? Or do they bring him back and have a competition in training camp and see who plays the best? Rumors are flying around about giving new Offensive Coordinator Arthur Smith Chicago’s Justin Fields, or perhaps Ryan Tannehill who Smith used to coach. Russell Wilson is another name being tossed around. 

But back to the gist of this article. Who was the best quarterback ever to wear the Black and Gold? It would be easy to say Terry Bradshaw or Ben Roethlisberger and those two can probably be argued as interchangeable as to who is the best. But when it comes to statistics, that tells a different story. 

Ben Roethlisberger is the all-time leader in passing yards with 64,088 yards and first in touchdowns with 418. That is far ahead of Bradshaw’s 212, and his yardage is far beyond the Blonde Bomber’s 27,989. When it comes to completion percentage, there was none better for the Steelers than Roethlisberger’s career mark of 64.4%. Bradshaw was not as accurate, Kordell Stewart, Neil O’Donnell, Bubby Brister, Tommy Maddox, Mike Tomczak, and even in his early years, Kenny Pickett all have bested Bradshaw’s 51.9 percentage. On the flip side, Big Ben has thrown 211 interceptions, the most in Pittsburgh history, one more than Bradshaw. Quarterback rating? Roethlisberger by far with a rating of 93.5. No other quarterback even comes close.

Terry Bradshaw and Roethlisberger were both known to be exceptionally good rushing quarterbacks. But both those players did not match the final numbers of Kordell Stewart who ran the ball 496 times for 2,561 yards and 35 touchdowns. Slash’s longest rush was for 80 yards and all those numbers are the best in Steelers history., including Stewart’s average of 5.2 yards per carry. Bradshaw averaged 5.2 and Big Ben just 2.7 which he also fumbled 115 times, the most ever. 

So, in 90 seasons that the Steelers have fielded a team in the NFL, you can pretty much agree that they have had just two great quarterbacks that are considered to be “franchise” QBs although some might throw Kordell Stewart into the mix and perhaps Neil O’Donnell. You could probably make a case for Bobby Layne, but it really comes down to Roethlisberger vs. Bradshaw. For NFL titles, Big Ben has two rings, Bradshaw four. But it is not uncommon to consider that every NFL team in the league has had very few great quarterbacks that played for them.

Starting with Tom Brady is one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, the New England Patriots can call just Brady their only franchise quarterback. Peyton Manning? The Colts had Manning, Johnny Unitas, and Andrew Luck. For Steelers fans, if you were unaware, Unitas is from Pittsburgh and was drafted by the Steelers but cut before the season began. Mistake? Probably. If they kept him on board, maybe they would not have drafted Terry Bradshaw in 1970.

Manning also won a title with the Denver Broncos but was there very briefly. John Elway is the man in Denver and the only great quarterback they have had. The current defending NFC champion 49ers of course had Joe Montana and Jimmy Young and possibly some might want to add John Brodie. The Green Bay Packers have had dynasty teams and are one of the oldest teams in the league but with quarterbacks it is either Bart Starr, Brett Favre, or the recently departed Aaron Rodgers. 

Dan Marino never won an NFL title, yet he is one of the best, probably in the top five. His team, the Dolphins, have had just Marino as a great quarterback, and it is hard to agree that Bob Griese would belong in the conversation. Those poor Chicago Bears, another of the league’s oldest teams, have been looking for a franchise quarterback forever. You can probably only make a case for Sid Luckman. But after that it is nil. 

Drew Brees made a career in San Diego and New Orleans. Neither team has had a franchise quarterback outside of New Orleans unless you throw Dan Fouts into the mix for the Chargers and possibly Philip Rivers. Peyton Manning’s kid brother Eli won a few titles in New York, but the Giants with quarterbacks maybe only Phil Simms can be considered.

So, the bottom line for the Pittsburgh Steelers when considering who was their greatest quarterback ever would boil down to one fact. It is the Ben and Terry show…for now.