Do the Steelers possess the best QB situation in the AFC North?
Did the headline grab you? I’m sure it did, and most of yinz are saying to yourselves, “Well no, how can that be?”
How can the Steelers have the best quarterback situation in the AFC North? Isn’t Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson all better than Kenny Pickett? Clearly, they’ve played longer and proven more as pros.
While I can’t doubt any of those statements, there’s a larger surface to scratch as to how NFL teams become desperate to find their franchise quarterbacks. And in each scenario within the AFC North, those teams have gone to different lengths to alter their cultures. Some for better and some for worse.
Let me explain.
First, the Cincinnati Bengals. Historically, the Bengals have been a mid-level team for decades, who had to endure five straight losing seasons before turning their fortunes around.
Prior to 2021, the Bengals hadn’t won a playoff game since the 1988 season. Yes, the jokes about “no Bengals fan has sent a text message about winning in the postseason” was entirely true. You had to go back to Sam Wyche and Boomer Esiason as the coach and quarterback combo. The Bengals were a bottom franchise from that point until 2005, when Marvin Lewis and Carson Palmer brought them their first playoff appearance since ’88.
From there, Lewis would have middling success, seeing the Bengals to a few first place division finishes and five playoff appearances in the 2010’s, before he was fired and Zac Taylor became the current head coach.
Taylor’s Bengals would start out 2-14 – “good enough” to claim the first overall pick of the NFL Draft and Joe Burrow as their prize. Without having to sacrifice any draft picks to move up the board, and without many high dollar contracted players on their roster, the Bengals were able to make a quick turnaround to appear in back-to-back AFC Championship games.
Their luck, as you’d have it, was being bad for so long that they finally had pendulum swing in the other direction.
That should’ve been true for the Cleveland Browns, who have been a doormat of the AFC North, and formerly the old AFC Central, for even longer. Cleveland hasn’t finished ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the same division since 1989. Over the course between now and then, the team has been moved to Baltimore, reborn, and even sold to a different owner.
The story, however, remains the same: the Browns are mediocre.
Despite several high first round draft picks, including their attempt at a first overall quarterback with Baker Mayfield, desperation finally set in as the Cleveland traded away for an accomplished but maligned Deshaun Watson, who’s off-field issues kept him out of football for the larger part of the last two seasons.
To acquire Watson, the Browns had to fork over three first round draft picks (2022, 2023 and 2024) plus fully guarantee his five-year salary which is the largest ever given to a quarterback in NFL history.
Watson’s salary cap hits make it difficult for the Browns to maneuver in free agency and their lack of draft capital also handicaps their chances of reloading with “lower cost” rookies via the NFL Draft. Plus, it’s still unknown if Watson is as good of a player as he showed earlier in his career with the Houston Texans – where much of his gaudy stats were padding with excellent receivers (DeAndre Hopkins), great weather (dome stadium) and a poor team that precluded their offense to often throw the ball while playing from behind.
If the Watson trade blows up on the Browns, they may never recover for years to come. Also, his contract has impacted the Steelers other division rival, the Baltimore Ravens, and their talks to extend former league MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Jackson has turned down several offers from the franchise, and has even demanded a trade, while the team continues to work through the situation. Currently tendered under a franchise tag, Jackson will cost the team $32.4 million, but had the Ravens exclusively tagged him, that number would’ve increased to $45 million.
Jackson is undoubtedly looking next door at Watson’s deal, which averages $46 million per-year, but also has the Browns on the hook for three consecutive $63 million cap hits (or a projected 20-25% of their entire salary cap) over those next three seasons.
This places the Ravens in an awkward position of not knowing their future, as Tyler Huntley (who had two touchdowns to three interceptions in 2022) was also tendered and unlikely to be the answer. And as far as backups go, the Bengals currently have one quarterback, Jake Browning, on their depth chart behind Burrow while the Browns brought former Steelers backup Joshua Dobbs back alongside Kellen Mond. At least the Steelers have a proven starter-capable quarterback in Mitchell Trubisky waiting in the wings, unlike their opponents do, should their top paid passer go down.
So how might it be possible the Steelers have the best quarterback situation in their entire division? Simply stated, they don’t have to dump money into the quarterback position, at least anytime soon. The largest sum of money tied up is currently with Trubisky, as a backup, as Pittsburgh started, what they refuse to admit is a rebuilding stage, before Ben Roethlisberger retired.
In fact, they were criticized for taking a running back (Najee Harris) and a tighe end (Pat Freiermuth) rather than invest into Big Ben’s backup and potential heir while the former was still on the roster. What transpired was a solid one-two punch, as Harris and Freiermuth provided Roethlisberger with the weapons to have one last swan song, while those two young skill position players gained experience to help the next guy.
That next guy turned out to be Kenny Pickett, who was selected 20th overall in last year’s draft as the Steelers used zero extra capital to move up or down the board to get their guy. Granted, the quarterback class that Pickett came out of may never be one that’s talked about looking back years down the road, but Pickett was considered to be the top of his class and a pro-ready passer.
For the Steelers to pluck him, without giving up the considerations of multiple losing seasons, multiple future drafts picks, or having to shell out $45-50 million per season for a potential franchise quarterback is a boon in today’s NFL. If Pickett performs to even a mid-tier level, the rest of the talent around him – sourced through newly found salary cap relief with a rookie QB contract as well as retaining all of their draft picks – could see the Steelers soar to success.
Even though Burrow is clearly the more accomplished and better polished of the division’s quarterbacks, Pickett can stake his claim this season to move up the ladder. Jackson may not be around any longer – and if he remains, what’s left of the Ravens salary cap will closely resemble that of the Browns’ with Watson: meaning each of those teams is now having to make tough choices at other positions.
Don’t get me wrong, the Bengals will slowly catch up to this phenomena as Burrow enters year four of his rookie contract, with a fifth-year option decision and ultimately, a huge contract extension right behind it. Cincinnati is definitely in an all-in mode with a window that’s closing within the next few seasons, but the Steelers are easily in the next best situation in regard to building a championship caliber team to compete, as well as remain competitive without any other quarterback drama on the horizon.
