2022 Steelers Training Camp Preview: The Quarterbacks
It’s hard to believe but the Pittsburgh Steelers 2022 Training Camp is right around the corner. As we countdown the days until camp begins, SCU will highlight each position group detailing the players who will be competing for a spot on the Steelers’ final 53-man roster at the end of this Summer.
This year’s first preview heading into training camp is also likely its biggest question mark: the quarterback group.
Following the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers will have a new full-time starting quarterback for the first time in eighteen years. What’s likely going to be the most talked-about position all during camp could also be its more controversial, as the Steelers drafted not one, but two passers this spring, plus added a veteran QB to the mix with the in-house development signal-caller they’ve been grooming for years behind Big Ben.
Here are the names you need to know with a bit of a preview of each player.
Mitchell Trubisky
By being the top quarterback taken in his draft, and the second overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, Mitch Trubisky was one of the bigger, if not the biggest free agent name available at the quarterback position this spring.
Following four seasons with the Chicago Bears, Trubisky hit free agency in 2021 – and found few suitors with a dried-up market and teams in cap trouble due to the pandemic reducing budgets across the league. He would settle to become Josh Allen‘s backup with the Buffalo Bills, seeing little time on the field last season.
Trubisky has had some inconsistencies in his game before, which is why he fell out of favor in Chicago. However, he also led the Bears to the playoffs and earned a Pro Bowl nod. (Albeit as an alternate for the Rams Jared Goff, who bowed out due to playing in the Super Bowl.)
With 50 starts under his belt with the Bears, Trubisky completed 64% of his passes for 10,609 yards, 64 touchdowns, and 37 interceptions. He would only attempt eight passes with the Bills in 2021.
2022 Outlook
As the senior member of this group, Trubisky is everyone’s favorite to leave training camp with the starting quarterback job.
However, that’s far from a given. While his contract is laced with incentives, the barebones of his two-year deal is in line with backup quarterback money in 2022 and an easy out to save cap space in 2023. (His base salary this season is marginally lower than Mason Rudolph‘s.)
It’s now or never for Trubisky, who has a legitimate shot to prove his time in Chicago was overlooked and his talents underutilized. He is, however, on the hot seat, as he looks over his shoulder.
Mason Rudolph
The Steelers should’ve had a plan for Ben Roethlisberger post-retirement.
Most critics who have made that comment this summer have looked past Pittsburgh’s plan, which started with selecting Mason Rudolph in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Rudolph, the sixth quarterback taken in that draft, has had a few opportunities to show whether he can compete as a starter in the league – with varied successes and failures.
His 2019 season is well documented as one in which the Steelers offense struggled, often resorting to practice squad players to start at wide receiver and running back – and even at quarterback, when Rudolph was knocked out of action with a concussion.
Despite the rocky road of not having a quarterback coach that season, and a lackluster offensive coordinator in Randy Fichtner, the Steelers still thought enough of Rudolph to bring him back on a one-year deal to compete for the job in 2022. He brings ten starts to the table, completing 61.5% of his passes for 2,366 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.
2022 Outlook
Nearly everyone you listen to has automatically ruled out Rudolph from competing for the starting gig this season. Yet, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him neck-and-neck with Mitch Trubisky.
Several critics feel the Steelers are just building Rudolph up through talk, to set up a trade. But I feel differently: teams aren’t going to trade for a player under a one-year deal and would likely wait for him to be released instead.
I also feel that hype surrounding the rest of the room has downplayed Rudolph’s advantages of being with the team for several seasons, sitting and learning behind Roethlisberger.
While Pickett is lying in wait, Rudolph could steal the show by simply performing throughout camp and the preseason. Pittsburgh has likely learned a hard lesson from that 2019 season, and it’s not because of Rudolph’s play back then, but despite it: they’ll want an experienced passer as a backup, at minimum.
But who’s to say that experienced backup doesn’t end up being Trubisky?… Buckle up, because this will be the most talked-about competition during camp.
Kenny Pickett
The Steelers’ first-round pick this season, as well as the 2022 draft’s top quarterback selected, Pickett switches parking spaces having come over from the University of Pittsburgh: where he broke many of Dan Marino‘s records.
The comparisons started before the draft, where many felt the Steelers “wouldn’t make the same mistake twice” as they did passing on drafting Pitt’s Marino back in 1983. That’s yet to be seen, as well as an awful lot of pressure for the rookie.
Still, Pickett was head and shoulders the best quarterback of what was considered a weak class. It will be seen if the Steelers had the steal of the draft, snagging Pickett with the 20th pick – or if the other teams were on the right track by forgoing addressing the QB position early.
2022 Outlook
The new hometown favorite is maybe too high of a favorite with some.
Being a first-round pick has automatically registered Pickett on everyone’s radar, and the added notoriety of having played in the same stadium on Saturdays during his college days likely elevates those expectations.
The “to be seen” is how Mike Tomlin, who has never been in the position of playing anyone other than Big Ben, operates with a rookie quarterback. Will he follow the path of his predecessor, Bill Cowher, and attempt to sit Pickett at the bottom of the QB depth chart? Or will Pickett play so well this preseason that he forces the longtime head coach’s hand?
And what happens if Tomlin’s first losing season is imminent? Does Pickett get some garbage time to play down the December stretch to gear up for 2023?
My initial thought is that the Steelers didn’t believe they’d land Pickett, or any other comparable passer, in the draft… so they added Trubisky to compete with Rudolph and the now-deceased Dwayne Haskins. But with Haskins gone, there was an opening, and opportunity knocked.
Now we’ll have to wait and see if the Steelers rush Pickett onto the field or patiently bring him along while rolling with Trubisky or Rudolph instead.
Chris Oladokun
The Steelers surprised everyone by drafting a quarterback, but they truly shocked everyone by taking two.
Chris Oladokun has bounced around the collegiate ranks, starting with the Univerity of Southern Florida before transferring to FCS Samford (where Devlin Hodges also played) and then again to South Dakota State.
A dual threat to run and pass the ball, Oladokun played in all twelve of Samford’s games, starting in eight of them. He passed for 2,064 yards and 18 touchdowns with 7 interceptions while rushing for 493 yards and eight touchdowns.
At SDSU, Oladokun passed for 3,164 yards and 25 touchdowns, while rushing for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns.
2022 Outlook
Quite a big deal is being made about the Steelers selecting two quarterbacks in the same draft. Most believe this signals the end of Mason Rudolph, but should probably pump the brakes on that ideology as this doesn’t quite mirror the Washington Redskins 2012 selections of Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins, the latter of whom was a fourth round pick (102 overall).
Oladokun was drafted in the seventh round, 241 overall and 21 picks from the bottom of the draft.
That exemplifies that the Steelers were seeking a “camp arm” more than the future at the quarterback position, though stranger things have happened. However, it’s far more likely that Oladokun finds himself on the practice squad this season, running scout team to help the Steelers in practice.
Much like J.T. Barrett, Devlin Hodges, Josh Dobbs, and others before him, he’ll be counted on to emulate the mobile quarterbacks they’ll face this season, such as Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts, and possibly Cleveland newcomer Deshaun Watson.
