Steelers 2024 Offseason Thread

[dodint]

[shafnutz05]

[genoscoif]

Wonder how many of those 335 guys have a winning % over .500 as a starting QB. Not trying to argue against the pathetic picture the stat paints...just curious. Like, how many guys get 500 attempts when they aren't throwing TDs? Do they get 500 attempts because the team is winning? It's just odd.

[Troy Loney]

There are worse things than just going back to Pickett for next year.

I think Trubisky's dogshit performances are getting conflated with Picket. Pickett's biggest problems was getting injured mid-game 3 times, in those three games where Pickett went out, they averaged 8.67 points and 267 total yards.

Overall total yards in the 4 different scenarios:
Pickett - 304 (Canada and Sullivan)
Pickett/Trubisky - 267.67 (Canada and Sullivan)
Trubisky - 240 (Sullivan)
Rudolph - 348.67 (Sullivan)

And the one game with Pickett and Sullivan it was 421 total yards.

(fun with pivot tables)

In summary, Trubisky was the worst QB we've maybe ever seen in Pittsburgh. Pickett is brittle, that fact alone makes his status in doubt as the long term option. Rudolph looked great against terrible defenses, but weak against strong competition. I wouldn't shake anything up to keep him.

I think it sucks, but you're in QB no-man's land right now. I think Pickett is attractive as a cheap option the next two years, but would need to prove a lot for that 20mm 5th year option to be picked up. I think you are definitely drafting qb's, just not in the first round. And you're bringing in a reliable backup (think like Brissett or Tyrod Taylor).

I think that they move on from Johnson, he's become a problem, and I think that they're going to want to clear that **** out before it boils over. Luckily this draft is strong at WR, and they could get a #2 on day 2. And I think they take the C #1 and hold with Moore. One weak link on the OL is manageable, and patching the hole at C is going to make things look much better. And I think they'll address depth at ILB and the secondary in FA.

[dodint]

It's not Pickett.
It's not the stats.

It was Canada.
No wait, it's Trubisky, yeah, that's it!

[Morkle]

I mean KP's biggest problems were being trash for 3.75 quarters, and running into injuries.

[Troy Loney]

It's not Pickett.
It's not the stats.

It was Canada.
No wait, it's Trubisky, yeah, that's it!

What is your thesis here?

Or is your thing just being mark madden?

[dodint]

Pickett is not an effective QB. Telling me that I'm misremembering his performance as belonging to a QB that is no longer on the roster just isn't going to do it for me, sorry.

His ceiling is a low-tier starter or quality back-up. And that's if he gets good coaching and works hard. I'm not sure if he and the team are capable of either of those things.

[Troy Loney]

Unfortunately for the Steelers, there are no clean paths for upgrading over Pickett. Unless you are dead set on locking in a starter with no ceiling, who might also very well suck (rudolph).

[LITT]

justin fields

[dodint]

Yeah, I understand the constraints of your position. You seem to be trying to put a positive spin on a bad situation, and that's noble.

I'm not rooting for KSP to fail. I'm just a lot less willing to cheer for what looks like mediocrity to me. The back of my mind keeps saying that yinzers cheered against Bradshaw in the same exact way, and the dummy figured it out. I leave the possibility of KSP finding success open. He can be a game manager in a well designed system.

The core of my angst regarding Pickett is that he shouldn't be here at all. The Steelers waited way too long to draft a QB, because Ben is a manchild with hurt feels, and then when they did get a QB they didn't even look outside of the building for one. It's a lazy, cheap team committing sports malpractice.

[Morkle]

I think Pickett needs a short leash - or I'm back on the fire Tomlin train if we're going to sit through forced ineptitude.

[tifosi77]

Justin Fields is up for his fifth year option in 2025 which will be upwards of 21 million.

So Schefter thinks because Tomlin “likes him” we are gonna give up a second rounder for a guy we essentially would need to make a decision on in 1 year?

Yea that’s not happening

The thing with the third year option........ don't teams have to exercise it after the QB's 3rd season, sometime before they arrive at spring OTAs or rookie minicamp or something? So that's like early May. That fifth year option actually has to be exercised this year for Fields, right? So it's not a looming concern hanging over everyone's head down the road, it's a material part of any transaction involving him.

[tifosi77]

'Dudes' lol

We've all watched a lot of football in the last half century+. Think of all the awful QBs who, through unfortunate happenstance, have had over 500 attempts in the NFL. Think of all the inept offensive coordinators. The pervasive parity/mediocrity the League is engineered to produce. I think he's only had one career game with multiple TDs, and like half of his start have been "fewer than 1".

But an interesting exercise would be to see this stat transposed against coordinators, regardless of QB.

[skullman80]

The path of least resistance is you see what Kenny can do this year with a new OC and the full reigns of the offense. I don't think there is some huge QB upgrade out there to be honest. They've put themselves in a hole at this point an no easy way to dig out.

You need a backup though if nothing else and to have a Plan B if Kenny just shits the bed, but I guess at that point you just scrap the year and draft someone.

Justin Fields sucks.
Tannehill is very similar to Kenny just with some marginal NFL success...so it seems pointless.

[Troy Loney]

Yeah, I understand the constraints of your position. You seem to be trying to put a positive spin on a bad situation, and that's noble.

I'm not rooting for KSP to fail. I'm just a lot less willing to cheer for what looks like mediocrity to me. The back of my mind keeps saying that yinzers cheered against Bradshaw in the same exact way, and the dummy figured it out. I leave the possibility of KSP finding success open. He can be a game manager in a well designed system.

The core of my angst regarding Pickett is that he shouldn't be here at all. The Steelers waited way too long to draft a QB, because Ben is a manchild with hurt feels, and then when they did get a QB they didn't even look outside of the building for one. It's a lazy, cheap team committing sports malpractice.

I'm guessing it's not your intent, but this post reads to me that you think finding your qb is about eagerness, or willingness to spend.

Not sure how it was plausible to imagine that they could manage the post-roethlisberger QB situation cleanly. Because, as you note, Roethlisberger was a jackass and threw fits when they had the audacity to draft Rudolph, let alone actually setting up the heir-apparent.

So yeah, the QB situation sucks. And that's about how it is for half the league. There are maybe 10 qbs that could win a superbowl right now. And apologies if a "run it back with Pickett" post implies optimism, rather than that's probably the best of their terrible options at QB.

[tifosi77]

That's sort of where I am. "Least awful =/= 'good'"

Except I think where I differ is that I do not regard Pickett as 'least awful'. Because it's not just about his own football mediocrity, it's about the organizational direction (or lack thereof) ongoing commitment to him communicates.

[Troy Loney]

The path of least resistance is you see what Kenny can do this year with a new OC and the full reigns of the offense. I don't think there is some huge QB upgrade out there to be honest. They've put themselves in a hole at this point an no easy way to dig out.

You need a backup though if nothing else and to have a Plan B if Kenny just shits the bed, but I guess at that point you just scrap the year and draft someone.

Justin Fields sucks.
Tannehill is very similar to Kenny just with some marginal NFL success...so it seems pointless.

Appreciate the objective observer providing additional explanation.

Pickett sucks, but so do half the starting quarterbacks and alternatives to Pickett on ‘24. Not really any value in complaining about, or yelling louder about how Pickett sucks.

[Troy Loney]

Steeler fans conviction that Pickett sucks is probably the most encouraging sign that he can turn the corner in ‘24.

[skullman80]

The path of least resistance is you see what Kenny can do this year with a new OC and the full reigns of the offense. I don't think there is some huge QB upgrade out there to be honest. They've put themselves in a hole at this point an no easy way to dig out.

You need a backup though if nothing else and to have a Plan B if Kenny just shits the bed, but I guess at that point you just scrap the year and draft someone.

Justin Fields sucks.
Tannehill is very similar to Kenny just with some marginal NFL success...so it seems pointless.

Appreciate the objective observer providing additional explanation.

Pickett sucks, but so do half the starting quarterbacks and alternatives to Pickett on ‘24. Not really any value in complaining about, or yelling louder about how Pickett sucks.

I don't think I've ever said Pickett sucks to be honest. I think as a first round pick he hasn't been playing to thatlevel yet, but some of that is not his fault. The jury is out on him..this year is his make or break to make that leap. As a Pitt fan I hope he does well in the grand scheme of things unless he is playing the 49ers.

[Troy Loney]

That may be semantics. He sucked last year, but he may yet “not suck”

[Morkle]

He's sucked two years in a row. What's the higher probability, that he'll suck for the third, or magically become above replacement level?

[Troy Loney]

He's sucked two years in a row. What's the higher probability, that he'll suck for the third, or magically become above replacement level?

He held his own as a rookie. Saying he sucked in ‘22 is over the top.

This is just hating

[tifosi77]

I don't know who put what in your corn flakes this AM, but that is some rose-tinted delusional horses**t right there. lol

[Beveridge]

Geez. Imagine if Picket was a PSU QB. This thread would really be great.