The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the middle of yet another offseason where they have a lot of uncertainty around the quarterback position. No matter what direction they decide to go, they will be starting a new quarterback in Week 1 for the fifth consecutive season.
Finding a long-term answer at quarterback is arguably the toughest thing to do in sports for any organization, and the Steelers are facing that tough reality currently. Steeler Nation was spoiled prior to this recent stretch, as the Steelers had a future Hall of Fame quarterback leading their team for 18 seasons. His name as we all know is Ben Roethlisberger.
Not only was Roethlisberger one of the top quarterbacks in the league for nearly two decades, he earned the term "franchise quarterback" extremely quickly by going 14-1 in his rookie season with the only loss being in the AFC Championship. Not only is it incredibly difficult to find a legit answer at quarterback, it is even more difficult to get that answer so quickly.
Getting lucky and finding a quarterback like Roethlisberger can make or break many people's careers, and in this case, it led to a long and successful career for Kevin Colbert, who was calling the shots for the Steelers from 2000 to 2022. While joining the Lyons Share podcast, Colbert talked about his time with the Steelers and included how fortunate they were that Roethlisberger fell into their laps.
"Unfortunately and fortunately, we had one (losing season) in '03, that is how we ended up being able to draft Ben Roethlisberger," said Kevin Colbert. "It kind of hit at the right time because there was three Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, and Ben. We were fortunate enough to get Ben at number 11 that year. We had no confidence that it was going to happen, we were very fortunate a Hall of Fame quarterback made it down that far."
Timing is everything, and the Steelers bottoming out in 2003 gave them the best opportunity they could have asked for. It is rare to find a Hall of Fame quarterback in any draft class, let alone for three to be drafted in the same one. If that quarterback class didn't have two players that were being considered for the number one pick already in Philip Rivers and Eli Manning, there is a good chance Roethlisberger gets taken much earlier than 11th overall.
Colbert was 100% correct that it was unfortunate for the team to have a losing season in 2003, which happens to be the last losing season for the organization. That consistency in terms of regular season success since then has unfortunately limited opportunities for Omar Khan and the current front office to find their long-term answer at quarterback early in the draft.
Steelers Will Need To Take A Huge Risk To Get Their Long-Term Answer At QB In 2025
It seems to be pretty clear that the primary option at quarterback for the Steelers in 2025 is Aaron Rodgers, but that still doesn't give the long-term answer many are desiring. The 2025 quarterback class on the surface appears to be a far cry from the 2004 class where the Steelers found Roethlisberger, but the Steelers might have their eye on one of the top names. That would be Shedeur Sanders out of the University of Colorado.
The team has been linked to a couple of the quarterback prospects in this class, but Sanders is the latest name and would likely be the player that most would be happy taking in the first-round. In order for Sanders to end up in the black and gold, he would likely need to slip in the draft a bit, and even then, the Steelers would likely need to spend draft capital to move up from their current spot at 21st overall.
