It would appear that Pittsburgh Steelers’ General Manager Omar Khan has adopted a rather bold strategy for free agency this year. Apparently, the idea was to sign or trade for guys at nearly every position other than that all important quarterback one.
OK, that’s probably not fair but you see where I’m going. Since adding D.K. Metcalf via trade Sunday evening, the Steelers signed cornerback Darius Slay, put a second round tender on Jaylen Warren and signed core Special Teamer and inside linebacker Malik Harrison. They also signed center Ryan McCollum who had two starts last season and released defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi in a cost-cutting move.
Unfortunately, none of those guys have anything to do with taking a snap. Sam Darnold went to Seattle and Justin Fields signed with the New York Jets. What’s left? Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Daniel Jones and Gardner Minshew for starters.
Reports throughout today stated that the Steelers are negotiating with Aaron Rodgers but nothing seemed imminent. This is largely because Rodgers is also coveted by the New York Giants. Clearly there is a bidding war going on here but is Rodgers the best option? From an on-field standpoint, he struggled more than Russell Wilson did last year. From an off-field standpoint… Where do I begin?
Do the Steelers really want to have a guy who will go on the Pat McAfee Show every week to throw his teammates under the bus? Do they want to deal with the overall baggage that comes with Rodgers? Sure, he has some type of bromance with Mike Tomlin but that doesn’t win games last I checked.
The Steelers best hope at this point is to sign a low-tier free agent and then draft a QB that suddenly becomes way more than anyone could have expected. That… Is not much of a strategy however. That sounds a lot more like hope.
