The Pittsburgh Steelers head into the 2021 offseason with a lot of uncertainty surrounding the organization. Uncertainty of the upcoming salary cap. Uncertainty surrounding free agents. Uncertainty surrounding Ben Roethlisberger’s future.
I could go on, but you get the picture.
When Team President Art Rooney II met with media Thursday of last week, he was asked about the team’s quarterback play, but not just their play, but the quarterbacks currently on the roster.
As was stated earlier, Ben Roethlisberger’s future is anything but certain at this juncture of the offseason. With Roethlisberger due to count $41 million towards the Steelers’ 2021 salary cap, the team has to figure out how to have him back while also lowering that number. After Roethlisberger you have Mason Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins.
That’s it.
Devlin Hodges had his Steelers contract expire, and is now a member of the Los Angeles Rams organization. Joshua Dobbs, who re-joined the Steelers prior to the start of the regular season, will be an Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) once the new league year begins in March.
So, what does Rooney see for the Steelers’ quarterback room this offseason?
“I’ll just start by saying, with Ben, we need to have conversations with him about the end of his career, and we intend to do that.” Rooney said. “In terms of the quarterbacks we have on the roster now, we’ll start with Mason Rudolph. We are comfortable that he’s a quarterback who can play in this league and be a starter in this league. And obviously beyond that, we just signed a young player in Dwayne Haskins, but we’ll see if he develops.
“I think when you look at our (quarterbacks) room, we obviously are going to have to add somebody this offseason, and so we’ll look at all the opportunities we have to do that.”
Sounds as if the Steelers are determined to add some quarterbacks to their roster this offseason. After all, even if Roethlisberger returns there is no way they head into an offseason with just three quarterbacks on the roster. Last season the Steelers carried five quarterbacks on their offseason roster before trimming that number the three prior to the start of the regular season.
Who will the Steelers add? Will the re-sign Dobbs? Will they bring in two new quarterbacks? Will the team look to draft a quarterback?
A lot of questions, and the only answers fans will receive this offseason will be in time. In the meantime, stay tuned to BTSC for the latest news and notes surrounding the black and gold as they prepare for the new league year, NFL Free Agency and the 2021 NFL Draft.