The Pittsburgh Steelers are rolling this offseason with an interesting quarterback room. Perhaps their most intriguing room in years. There are two veterans and two recent draft picks, and all four have their own reasons to stick on the roster going into the regular season. But one is going to miss the cut, according to Steelers beat writer Brain Batko.
“I’d be stunned if they don’t keep 3,” Batko wrote Friday in his chat with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Batko is probably right that only three will make it. The Steelers do have a lot of positional versatility on their roster, but it’s still a tough decision to cut depth in one area in favor of keeping four quarterbacks when the latter two will probably never see the field.
It’s an interesting situation because the QB1 and QB3 roles already feel set. Aaron Rodgers is going to be the starter. Drew Allar should be QB3, as he’s got a long road of development ahead. Then it’s Will Howard and Mason Rudolph battling for that backup role. The loser will probably miss out on the 53-man roster.
If Batko had to predict, he thinks Howard wins the backup role.
“My post-draft roster projections had it 8-18-15 [Rodgers-Howard-Allar] and I’m sticking to that,” Batko wrote.
Both Howard and Rudolph have arguments in their favor. For Howard, it’s the idea of looking toward the future. He had a nice run in training camp last year and has reportedly looked sharp during OTAs. If he has any chance to become the Steelers’ quarterback of the future, Pittsburgh is better off letting him take second-team reps behind Rodgers.
Rudolph, meanwhile, offers a sense of stability for a team that is still trying to compete. Rudolph knows he’s succeeded as a spot starter before. If Rodgers goes down at a crucial time, Rudolph would bring a sense of comfort that Howard or Allar might not.
But if Howard proves himself this summer, it’s probably going to be him. At some point, the Steelers have to develop a young quarterback. If Rodgers is going to take starting snaps, it might make more sense to keep Howard on the roster than Rudolph. But one thing’s for sure, Batko isn’t expecting all four of the Steelers’ quarterbacks to make it.