The Pittsburgh Steelers begin the offseason with many unanswered questions. Primary among them: who will start at quarterback in 2025?
Russell Wilson made the Pro Bowl in what seems destined to be his only season with the Steelers. He was excellent out of the gate, but Pittsburgh lost five straight games to end the campaign — including an embarrassing beatdown in Baltimore in the AFC Wild Card Round.
Justin Fields went 4-2 across six starts to open the season, but the Steelers demoted him as soon as Russ got healthy. One can't help but wonder if Fields sees a brighter future elsewhere, where on-field merits (rather than amorphous "reputation" and career accomplishments) might determine his role. Pittsburgh very clearly should have stuck with Fields the whole way through, but there was a disconnect with Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith.
Both Wilson and Fields are free agents. The expectation is that Pittsburgh will either re-sign Fields and promote him, or look to an increasingly compelling free agency pool. Sam Darnold, Kirk Cousins, and Aaron Rodgers all stand out as starting-caliber QBs in need of new homes, and all of 'em are probably better (at least short-term) than Pittsburgh's incumbent options.
That said, what if the Steelers opt for the trade route instead? And no, we don't mean Matthew Stafford. Pittsburgh should at least place a phone call to the Indianapolis Colts to gauge their faith in 22-year-old Anthony Richardson.
This Steelers-Colts trade would implant Anthony Richardson as Pittsburgh's franchise QB
Anthony Richardson is one of the hardest evaluations in the NFL.
On the surface, his numbers were god awful last season. He completed a mere 47.7 percent of his passes, accumulating 1,814 yards, eight touchdowns, and 12 interceptions across 11 starts. He was benched midway through the season in favor of Joe Flacco's corpse, before Indy reversed course and finished a tanking campaign with Richardson at the helm.
As is so often the case, Richardson looked better after his brief stint with the second unit. Now the Colts plan to hold an open QB competition in training camp, per GM Chris Ballard. Richardson's future in Indianapolis is very much unsettled, which leaves the door open for Omar Khan and the Steelers front office.
While the surface-level numbers are rough, Richardson is 22 years old. He's younger than Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Bo Nix. He's only a 100 days older than Drake Maye, but Richardson has two NFL seasons under his belt. The Colts were always taking the patient approach, in theory. Richardson was a raw mound of clay coming out of Florida — equipped with every physical tool and athletic trait a team could dream of at quarterback, but in need of extreme polishing.
Indy's patience ran alarmingly thin last season, but it's way too early to give up on Richardson. He was much better in four starts as a rookie. He was better after his benching than prior to it. Every young quarterback experiences growing pains in the NFL. Richardson's were always going to be more severe than most.
Still, it's hard to find 6-foot-4, 244-pound, capital-A athletes like Richardson. At any position. He's a deadly threat with his legs. His arm talent stacks up with the very best in the NFL. He needs to tighten the screws on his fundamentals and ramp up his processing speed, but there is a franchise quarterback in there somewhere. Richardson's ceiling, if he can put all the pieces together, is too high for the standard human eye to perceive.
Pittsburgh's offense under Arthur Smith has its shortcomings, but it's probably the best setup Richardson can hope for at this stage of his career. Smith keeps a tight handle on play-calling duties and runs a very rigid, balanced system. The Steelers aren't trying to blow the doors off of opposing defenses. When it works, it's death by a thousand cuts. Keeping Richardson in a streamlined scheme with a strong emphasis on efficiency and balance is smart.
If it's between Richardson and Fields, just hypothetically, a team stuck in neutral like the Steelers should prefer Richardson 10 times out of 10. There is more risk, sure, but Richardson is essentially Fields on steroids athletically. Fields plays a more efficient (read: reserved) brand of football, but Richardson can uncork throws Fields wouldn't have the gumption or arm strength to even attempt. Blend that with his mobility outside the pocket and penchant for physical, gritty runs, and Richardson is the obvious upside swing this Steelers team needs.