Tim Benz: Get used to backup QB conundrum — Steelers will face it in depth this offseason

With the injury status of Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback Kenny Pickett up in the air, a conversation happening this week is also bound to be had frequently this offseason.

Who is the best option to backup Kenny Pickett?

As I feared last offseason, the Steelers coaching staff and front office tried to fill a void created by Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement with clutter. They simply threw numbers at the problem. As if replacing a Hall of Fame quarterback is akin to replacing two defensive backs.

Keep Mason Rudolph. Sign Mitch Trubisky. Draft Pickett in the first round. Even draft Chris Oladokun in the seventh-round for overki– … uh … for good measure.

Let’s replace Big Ben with four guys at once. That’ll do the trick!

Well, Oladokun hardly ever threw a pass in practices before getting cut and winding up in Kansas City. Trubisky got benched before the end of the fourth game. And Rudolph has been in dry storage since the end of the preseason, relegated to third-string duty.

Hey, at least the Steelers have options. In that regard, the club looks smart.

Because they keep trying new options. Hopefully, one of them will eventually work.

Pickett was on the right path before getting knocked out with an apparent concussion during a 16-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. The team had won three of its previous four games. Pickett had been turnover free in the process, with a rising passer rating in each of those four games.

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But this is his second concussion in eight weeks. And many are wondering if head coach Mike Tomin will sit him this week in Carolina, so as to provide the rookie an extra week to heal.

Why not? With the playoffs all but a lost cause, why risk a few extra quarters of football this week against a mediocre NFC South foe, when he could get an extra week of recovery before being turned loose for the final three games — two of which will be against AFC North rivals (Ravens again on Jan. 1, Cleveland Browns on Jan. 8)?

That’s what I’d do. Pickett’s development is the most important thing to watch over the last four games of this woebegone Steelers season. I’d gladly sacrifice one game of it this Sunday in the name of assuring his brain has healed enough to play out the entirety of the last three games.

I’d start Trubisky in Charlotte. But I’d have a quick hook ready to put in Rudolph. After all, Trubisky threw three interceptions last week and the last we saw of Rudolph, he was playing as well as he has as a Steeler during the preseason and in training camp.

The Rudolph dynamic is an odd one heading into Sunday. If Pickett doesn’t clear concussion protocol and doesn’t dress, on the one hand, it’d feel like the Steelers are at least rewarding Rudolph with a chance to play if they start him.

It’d look like a well-deserved reward for how Rudolph has nobly handled his demotion and his role in 2022. It’d also provide him an opportunity to show the rest of the league that he can still play in the NFL, if any other club may be interested in signing him as a free agent after this season.

Then again, starting Rudolph would also smack of: “Look, Mason. We made a mess of this whole season. Go out there and mop up for a week until Kenny feels better, OK?”

From Trubisky’s standpoint, how would he feel about that? He has already been benched quickly for Pickett. Then he came off the bench to win a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after Pickett’s first stint in concussion protocol in October. Now he might get bypassed again for Rudolph?

Don’t rule it out. Tomlin sure sounds like a guy who is considering that possibility.

“I’m going to work both guys this week, if given the opportunity, if (Pickett) isn’t able to participate,” Tomlin said Tuesday.

The immediacy of this week’s uncertainty casts a light on a similar conundrum heading into next year. Assuming Pickett remains the starter, what do the Steelers do to fill the backup spot?

Rudolph is a free agent after the season. Why in the world would he want to stay in Pittsburgh with the way he has been bypassed?

Trubisky has one more year left on his deal. According to OverTheCap.com, his salary cap number is $10.625 million. His dead cap charge is $2.625 million. Cutting him would save $8 million.

If Trubisky is as unhappy as we should assume he would be given his circumstances, why keep a potentially brooding backup at a $10.625 million ticket? Free up $8 million and get some other journeyman with a portion of that savings, and pour the rest into other needs.

But, still, the Steelers have gone from four QBs on the roster at the start of training camp to only one second-year player (Pickett) who is assured of still being here for the 2023 season.

From QB clutter to a QB famine in the span of 10 months?

It could happen.

Just add backup QB to an ever-growing list of concerns facing the Steelers in the winter of 2023.

In this week’s Steelers podcast, Tim Benz and Joe Rutter discuss the team’s quarterback conundrum heading into Sunday’s game in Carolina. They also kick around some issues on run defense and the reality of the Steelers’ 5-8 record.

Listen: Tim Benz and Joe Rutter talk Steelers