The Steelers have had some pretty juicy quarterback controversies over the years, sometimes involving as many as three players.
The Terry Bradshaw-Terry Hanratty-Joe Gilliam circus from the early 1970s springs to mind, as does the Kenny Pickett-Mason Rudolph-Mitch Trubisky battle of recent vintage.
There were plenty in between, usually involving two players such as Neil O’Donnell and Bubby Brister or Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox or Justin Fields and Russell Wilson.
These kinds of dramas are never dull, but they almost always center on the starting job. That’s what makes the highest-profile position battle awaiting us at this year’s Steelers camp so unique.
It’s for the backup job.
In most NFL cities, the backup quarterback situation is an afterthought. Not here. Not this year. Not when the starter will turn 43 this season, which automatically makes him vulnerable. Not when one of the backups has practically become a folk hero before his first live NFL snap and the other is a former folk hero maybe making his last stand in Pittsburgh.
Who ya got: Will Howard or Rudolph?
That’s the battle, and you’ll no doubt be reading in-depth breakdowns of every muscle movement each man makes at every single day of training camp.
And you know this going in: There’s a decent chance one won’t be here by the time camp ends.
This will be much less of a story if the Steelers keep four quarterbacks, which actually might make sense in their predicament. Ex-Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch believes there is zero chance that will happen, as he said on a recent podcast, and he’s probably right.
I suppose the Steelers could invent an injury for somebody and put them on IR, or try to pass Howard through waivers and onto the practice squad. We’ll see.
Their predicament, of course, is that they have yet to find a viable long-term replacement for Ben Roethlisberger. They are attempting to develop two young quarterbacks at once while keeping 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers for one last ride, and Rudolph potentially gives them a veteran backup with an 8-5-1 record (as a Steeler) in case Rodgers goes down.
To which I ask: Why not keep four in this unique situation? It makes the most sense. The last guy on the roster can’t possibly be as important as giving yourself the best chance to find your future quarterback.
Drew Allar, the third-round pick from Penn State, likely will be on ice for the year. He is apparently still learning basic footwork in coach Mike McCarthy’s system. That leaves Rudolph and Howard behind Rodgers.
Howard’s the fan favorite. He’s also the guy team president Art Rooney II, GM Omar Khan and McCarthy have talked up at every turn — and he received a ton of backup snaps in spring ball.
Was all the bluster real?
Do they really like Howard that much?
We’ll know soon enough. It’ll be quite the story if Howard gets the backup snaps early in camp. Everybody has different ideas on what McCarthy might be thinking. Some believe he’ll want the experienced Rudolph on hand in case Rodgers limps off in, say, Week 3 against the Bengals.
I tend to think the opposite. McCarthy probably believes he can mold anyone into a viable NFL quarterback. He helped make Aaron Brooks into one in New Orleans. I’d be shocked if he didn’t think he could get Howard to the point where he gives the Steelers at least as good a chance to win a game as Rudolph does. No offense to Rudolph, but the bar isn’t all that high.
If Howard wins the job and Rudolph is jettisoned, that will leave Allar a heartbeat away from the backup job — and let’s be real here: It’s unlikely Rodgers starts all 17 games.
It’s a juicy story, all right. Chapter 1 begins in about two weeks.
Get your popcorn ready.