Mitch Trubisky and the Pittsburgh Steelers wasted no time this offseason in coming to a contract agreement roughly one hour into the NFL's legal tampering period, one that is very beneficial to both parties. With the quickness of the signing, the amount of money invested, and his NFL experience, it comes as no surprise that he is currently the odds on favorite to be the starter in 2022 according to Fanduel Sportsbook,
No Steelers fans should be caught off guard that Mason Rudolph has the worst odds, even though he has been the second quarterback in line during offseason OTAs. Signing a veteran quarterback and drafting rookie Kenny Pickett in the first round has essentially signaled the end of Rudolph's tenure with the Steelers. That leaves the Steelers with a realistic two man race for the starting job and unless Pickett is leaps and bounds better than Trubisky throughout training camp and preseason, Trubisky is going to be the guy under center in week one, assuming no injuries occur. With that being said, how much of a leash will Head Coach Mike Tomlin give him?
The Steelers 2002 schedule
The Steelers' regular season schedule offers them no favors outside of a perfectly positioned bye week at the midway point, which is the spot I would assume the Steelers coaching staff would reassess the team, more specifically the quarterback position if needed. That would leave Trubisky with an eight week audition to prove his worth. The Steelers will be tasked with opening the season against two divisional opponents on the road and a Bill Belichek led New England Patriots team before getting the dreaded "trap game" versus the New York Jets in week four. A stretch of games I wouldn't be surprised to see end up with a 1-3 or worse record. Then the next two games are against the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Bucaneers, both of whom are the favorites in the respective conferences to get to the Super Bowl. They finish with the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles before the bye week, both of which made big time acquisitions at wide receiver to help their young quarterbacks. A tough stretch to reach the bye week with seven of the eight teams the Steelers face having better Super Bowl odds than them, outside of the Jets. Now will his success be measured in stats, wins, consistency or a combination of all three? I am not going to pretend to know what Tomlin might use as a measuring stick, especially against the quality in opponents they face, as other aspects could be a direct result of wins and losses not just the quarterback does. What I do know is there are going to be more outcomes that would call for Pickett to see the field and Trubisky be benched post bye week than vice versa.
Trubisky is behind the 8-ball in terms of being given benefit of the doubt, not only with the staff but the Steelers fan base. Even though he and Pickett are both adjusting to a new offensive system, the trials and tribulations of being accustomed to AFC North football, and the non-football element of adapting to life in Pittsburgh as a Steelers player, he will not be graded on the same curve. Now I am not saying that at the first sign of trouble to give him the hook but there will be noise and a lot of it if he is underperforming.
What do you think, what is the amount of time you would give Trubisky before benching him in favor of Pickett? Drop a comment below!
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