Colts' Jacoby Brissett provides blueprint for Steelers' QB plan

When a franchise quarterback retires, NFL franchises can spend years worth of draft, intellectual, financial and developmental capital searching for his replacement.

The Indianapolis Colts appear to have done it without using significant resources, as Jacoby Brissett has emerged as a quality starter.

Heading into Sunday’s matchup with the Colts, the Pittsburgh Steelers are getting a sneak preview into the inevitable process they’ll face when trying to find Ben Roethlisberger’s successor.

The football world was stunned Aug. 24 when Indianapolis Pro Bowl quarterback Andrew Luck announced his sudden retirement at age 29. The Colts had exactly two weeks before their season opener to prepare for life without Luck.

Indianapolis got an unexpected free preview of its succession plans when Brissett started 15 games for an injured Luck in 2017. The Steelers similarly are getting an unanticipated look this season at what could be their post-Ben future as Mason Rudolph — like Brissett, a former third-round pick — took over after Roethlisberger’s season-ending elbow injury in Week 2.

As second-year coach Frank Reich tells it, the Colts weren’t so much lucky in replacing Luck as they were wise in their planning.

“It wasn’t so much good fortune as it was having a great GM who had the foresight to trade for Jacoby Brissett while Andrew was still here,” Reich said. “And I really think (general manager Chris Ballard) deserves a lot of credit for that and getting him here, and what he thought — and what I now knew to believe when I got here — as, ‘Hey, this guy’s a top-level quarterback.’ ”

Brissett is in the top 10 in the NFL in passer rating (99.3), ranks third in the AFC in touchdown passes (14) and, most importantly, has guided Indianapolis to a 5-2 record that’s tied for second-best in the conference.

And while the Colts deserve credit for trading for Brissett in 2017 (sending underachieving receiver Phillip Dorsett to the New England Patriots in return), it was the unfortunate circumstances of Luck’s 2017 shoulder injury that provided the stage for Brissett to gain valuable experience.

“The depth of knowledge and experience that you have that comes into play every Sunday,” Reich said, “so you draw on all those things you remember: plays, throws, defenses, schemes. I think all those things add up.”

The Steelers potentially have a blueprint to follow for when they need to replace Roethlisberger, who will be 38 and have two years remaining on his contract when he begins preparations for the 2020 season.

The man perhaps most entrusted in developing the Steelers’ next quarterback, offensive coordinator and QBs coach Randy Fichtner, called Rudolph’s season’s worth of on-the-job as “a unique opportunity.”

“You hate to have to learn it in-season,” Fichtner said of Rudolph’s strengths and weaknesses. “You’d like to learn them in the preseason and offseason. But I think there’s probably not been enough opportunity (then), and now it’s presenting itself. Every day is an evaluation and a possible improvement day.”

With the Steelers still in the AFC playoff race, and the organization — like always — in win-now mode, the daily approach with Rudolph constantly balances two equally important objectives: success and development.

Life in the NFL rarely goes as planned, but the Steelers’ intentions for Rudolph this season initially prioritized learning and growth as well as evaluation from coaches in deciding if he was a worthy successor to Roethlisberger.

“It wasn’t how we planned,” Rudolph said of his second NFL season, “but I knew every backup quarterback, that’s the nature and the beast. You have to be ready and prepare like you are the starter.”

Rudolph credited Fichtner, Roethlisberer, coach Mike Tomlin and offensive assistant Matt Symmes (who focuses on quarterbacks) for aiding Rudolph with the weekly gameplan and refining Rudolph’s skills with an eye on the long term.

Ideally, the Steelers hope Rudolph won’t become the starter for a few years. They aren’t going to shove a future Hall of Famer out the door.

But as the Colts learned, timelines for franchise quarterbacks never are exact.

“The development of the quarterback is a premium,” Rudolph said, “and those guys (Fichtner, Symmes, Tomlin) know how to really handle it, and they’ve done a good job.”

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