It doesn’t matter who the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback is in 2025.

The Steelers entered NFL free agency with more than $60 million in salary cap space. That ranked between fifth and 10th among the league’s top figures, depending on the source.

The Steelers haven’t exactly made spectacular use of their spending, the acquisition and contract extension of receiver DK Metcalf duly noted.

They still don’t know who their quarterback is.

They continue scratching at Aaron Rodgers’ doorstep in embarrassing fashion. He’d cost at least $33 million per season. Mason Rudolph makes $4 million per.

Would Rodgers’ quarterbacking really be $29 million better? How many more victories would Rodgers provide than Rudolph? Would Rodgers win a playoff game?

Probably not, so none of that matters.

The Steelers should go with Rudolph as a bridge to whoever their next long-term quarterback is.

Because that’s the Steelers’ next truly important decision: Who they draft as their next franchise QB, probably in 2026 with the draft in Pittsburgh. Everything till then is just killing time.

It would be easier for the Steelers to extract themselves from using Rudolph than it would be from using Rodgers. Everything surrounding Rodgers turns complicated.

The Steelers blew it in 2022 when they drafted Kenny Pickett in the first round when no other NFL team would have.

Pickett turned out to be a bust and a prima donna. Selecting him set the Steelers back four to five years. They had no succession plan when Ben Roethlisberger’s career was winding down and have paid for that since.

The goal is to assemble a Super Bowl-caliber team, not merely squeak into the playoffs and then get eliminated in the wild-card round. (That used to be the goal, anyway. The Steelers might be overly enamored with Mike Tomlin’s streak of no losing seasons.)

At any rate, Rudolph could win enough games to stumble into the postseason. As he did in 2023.

Boy, is this boring. It’s written and talked about every day, and it doesn’t matter.

What matters is what quarterback they draft in 2026. (Take Arch Manning. You can’t go wrong with a Manning.)

Maybe the Steelers jump the gun and take a quarterback this year. But the crop isn’t as promising, and they will want to unveil their guy in ’26 when the draft is local.

The Steelers have a lame sense of showbiz. They romanticized drafting Pickett in ’22 because he went to Pitt and would just have to switch parking lots at the practice facility.

Pickett has seen a lot of different parking lots since. He became a journeyman before his rookie deal expired.

The Steelers should worry more about improving the facility. Just ask Najee Harris.

I wrote in a prior edition of this space that Rodgers was holding the Steelers hostage.

That’s incorrect. The Steelers are holding themselves hostage. The Steelers can walk away from Rodgers and ought to.

Steelers fans are ridiculing the New York Jets for paying Justin Fields $20 million per. But that’s a relatively low rate for a starting QB and a worthwhile risk if Fields is used correctly.

Steelers fans are ridiculing Cincinnati for spending 44% of their cap space on quarterback Joe Burrow and receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. But the Steelers are likely to extend a fading T.J. Watt for $35 million per. Burrow and Chase impact winning more than Watt does. Higgins might, too.

Like I said, this is boring.

The only way it could get more boring is if Russell Wilson returns.

I should have written an NCAA Tournament column. But those are boring, too, and I think it’s funny that West Virginia got screwed.

Rudolph will get screwed, too. I can’t believe he trusted the Steelers enough to come back. Fields certainly fell out of the trust tree.

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