What is the state of the Steelers QB room?

One could describe the Steelers offseason so far as crazy, unpredictable, impressive, necessary, or long overdue, and would probably be correct. It has been a wild ride since the opening of the legal tampering window, more colloquially known as free agency, on the 12th. In reality, the surge of seemingly nonstop transactions began the night before the official opening of the legal tampering window on the 12th when Russell Wilson announced that he would be signing a one-year deal with Pittsburgh. He is coming to the Steel City on a minimum deal, signaling only the beginning of a masterful performance Omar Khan and the rest of the front office would put on over the ensuing week and change.

As was mentioned earlier, Khan began the Steelers 2024 offseason off with a bang at the most important position on the field. Russ’ signing wasn’t a huge surprise to those who have been following the Steelers since the loss to Buffalo in the playoffs. Nonetheless, anytime you can add a future Hall of Famer to your roster it is an exciting acquisition. Especially if he is joining the team on a veteran’s minimum deal ($ 1.21 million). That is just the sign of a good businessman, which Khan certainly exemplifies. After the signing of Russ, the heat started to turn up in the QB room and ultimately resulted in Kenny Pickett and the 120th pick in this upcoming draft being dealt to the Eagles for the 98th pick in the 2024 draft and two 2025 seventh-round picks in return. Officially marking the death of the “Kenny Pickett era”, an era that lasted no more than two years and one that should absolutely be remembered as a failure.

Kenny Pickett apparently became disgruntled and requested a trade after learning that Russ would be given the first crack at being QB1 during training camp this upcoming summer. Moving Kenny Pickett was justified and worth it, especially for the return Khan was able to negotiate from Philadelphia. Pickett’s time as a starter was over; and for both parties, it is probably best to part ways and give Kenny a fresh start in Philadelphia and give us a chance to reload our talent in the QB room.

To describe the trade for Justin Fields as a reload might be an understatement. We were able to relinquish Chicago’s grip on Fields for the small price of a conditional 2025 sixth-round pick (If Fields plays 51% of the snaps or more it becomes a 2025 fourth-round pick). As the story goes, Fields chose to come to Pittsburgh over four other organizations that were trying to orchestrate a trade to acquire him. To quote Coach Tomlin, “We can't do this with hostages, man. We need volunteers”. We certainly have a volunteer in Justin Fields, who comes to town under the assumption that he will be QB2 in Pittsburgh for the 2024-2025 season. All the while we were able to ship off Kenny Pickett, who might be ignorant or idiotic enough to label himself a hostage.

Regardless of who starts at QB this year, the Steelers will have a more competent player in the most important position than the past two years. Russell Wilson being on such a cheap deal allows the team so much flexibility, they aren’t tied to starting him if Fields outperforms him. In short, Khan was able to completely overhaul and drastically improve the Steelers QB room in less than two weeks. Fields and Russ should prove to have a competitive battle in Latrobe this summer, and out of that the Steelers will have a better QB this year than they have since the good ole Big Ben years, regardless of whether it is Russ or Fields who ultimately gets the nod at QB1.