Tim Benz: Mike Tomlin may not be re-evaluating Steelers QB battle 'after every throw,' but it feels like everyone else is

Mike Tomlin has said that the Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff won’t be reshuffling the quarterback depth chart on a daily basis.

“We’re not going to micromanage, or overmanage, this quarterback competition,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “The depth chart is not going to rest on every throw.”

He didn’t say anything about what the fans and media should do, though, did he?

That’s because he knows we will be doing exactly the opposite.

And for many who have been at training camp over the first two days, if we were doing that exercise, the depth chart would probably be reshuffled to have Mason Rudolph on top with Mitch Trubisky second and Pitt rookie Kenny Pickett third.

Steelers QB power rankings so far in camp, based on solely on practice performance thru two days:

1. Mason Rudolph
2. Mitch Trubisky
3. Kenny Pickett
...
(N/A) Chris Oladokun*

*-given zero team reps over first two practices

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) July 28, 2022

Honestly, though, it kinda should be that way, shouldn’t it?

Rudolph has been with the Steelers since 2018. Meanwhile, Mitch Trubisky was signed in March, and Kenny Pickett just got drafted in April. Running with some familiar second-teamers, Rudolph should be looking good right now against many second-team defenders. Especially since — particularly on Day 1 — a lot of his throws were conservative checkdowns, whereas Trubisky seemed to be the most willing to take chances and experiment in his new offense.

“It’s practice. You’ve got to go out there and test throws. You’ve got to let guys make plays,” Trubisky told the media Wednesday.

That said, on Day 2, Rudolph did hit Gunner Olszewski on a deep pass that resulted in what would’ve been a touchdown of roughly 60 yards.

“We’ve got the guys to do that. We’ve got the play caller to do that,” Rudolph said. “That’s something Matt Canada has always enjoyed doing and calling. That’s a bread-and-butter part of his offense. We are going to play-action pass, and we are going to generally push the ball down the field.”

Meanwhile, as one would expect, Pickett does look like he is going through a lot of what Rudolph did in his first few years with the Steelers and what Trubisky battled early in his career with the Chicago Bears.

Things do seem to be moving quickly for him. He has had some jumpy feet on a few throws that he thought could be completed. Some have been intercepted by down-the-roster defensive players. His trademark poise and pocket command we saw at Pitt have yet to manifest.

Then again, should they? After just two training camp practices?

“Just get better and play,” Pickett said Tuesday before his first practice. “I’ve got to get some more reps in a new offense. A new system. Get comfortable and just compete, really.

The point is, if Pickett was universally dubbed as the most cable-ready quarterback in the draft this year, if the learning curve is steep for him, it’s only fair to wonder how things are going for Malik Willis in Tennessee or Matt Corral in Charlotte or Desmond Ridder in Atlanta.

But the other side of that coin could be that what we are seeing early in camp is a justification for the Steelers’ approach to holding onto Rudolph instead of cutting or trading him.

At least until Pickett gets up to speed. And if Pickett doesn’t do so by training camp or even the trade deadline on Nov. 1, maybe Rudolph will be here for the full year after all, and Pickett will potentially serve the equivalent of an NFL redshirt season.

Except, in the NFL, those redshirt seasons still come off your contract.

In part, because of reasons like that one, some are preemptively putting out a warning blast about how to view the Steelers’ selection of Pickett if he isn’t at least second string in 2022. Folks such as ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio recently on 93.7 The Fan.

Top NFL insider @ProFootballTalk on @937theFan: "If Kenny Pickett can't leapfrog Mason Rudolph then the Steelers got the Pickett pick wrong."

— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) July 27, 2022

I don’t see it that way. If the Steelers genuinely think that Pickett is going to be a 10-year franchise quarterback, if he doesn’t play in Year 1, so be it. And if he doesn’t play in Year 1 because he is third string versus second string, what’s the difference?

The Steelers just need to be right about Pickett’s ceiling being worthwhile by the time he does start. Whether that’s in 2023 or 2024 after Mitch Trubisky’s contract ends, he better be really good in his first year as a starter.

Then it’s not a wrong pick. Even if no one was selected in the first round who could’ve otherwise positively impacted a team that went 9-8 last year and could struggle to make the playoffs again this year.

I keep coming back to the idea that if Pickett isn’t any better than third string as a rookie, it’s not an indictment of the pick. We won’t know that until Pickett is given the starting job.

It’s not even an indictment of choosing a quarterback at all, be it Pickett or someone else.

Rather, it’s an indictment of the franchise’s stated logic for making the pick of Pickett over any one of those quarterbacks we mentioned earlier.

The frequently stated belief of Tomlin and former general manager Kevin Colbert was that Pickett had been worthy of the No. 21 pick in the draft because he was so mature and polished as an incoming rookie.

“Kenny is just a mature, even-keeled guy,” Colbert said on draft night. “We feel that the maturity that he displayed on and off the field will help him in that endeavor.”

Tomlin added, “He is 24 years old. He is a mature young man. You do see maturity in his game, and I think all those things are going to put him into a position to compete.”

Well, if that’s what separated Pickett from the pack, isn’t his best attribute now being rendered moot if he is being put in dry storage for a year?

That’s what I think is bugging some Steelers fans. That’s what I think has some people scratching their heads about the Steelers’ approach to the quarterback competition.

It’s not frustrating because Pickett isn’t being handed the job immediately. Tom Brady threw three passes and played in one game during his first season. Patrick Mahomes didn’t start as a rookie until the last game of the regular season.

Unlike those situations, the public was sold on Pickett’s “hit the ground running” resume. If Pickett barely even dresses as a rookie on game days, those platitudes from Colbert and Tomlin on draft night will seem empty.

But the Steelers’ yearlong quarterback debate never will.

Friday’s Bella Construction “Letters from Camp” podcast with Tim Benz features some early opinions on the three-horse race to become the Steelers’ new starting quarterback.

Listen: Tim Benz reports from Steelers training camp