The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to need a quarterback to start the 2026 NFL season, and it sounds like they really want it to be Aaron Rodgers again. But predicting what the 42-year-old will want days from now, much less months, is a dicey proposition. And if Rodgers decides it's time to hang his cleats up, new head coach Mike McCarthy needs a backup plan in order to avoid being stuck with Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and not a whole lot else.
Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Pittsburgh Steelers face uncertainty at quarterback with Aaron Rodgers' future uncertain for the 2026 season.
- Pittsburgh could target a young backup from the New Orleans Saints, who recently signed Zach Wilson and seem ready to move on.
- Acquiring this player offers low-risk competition for Mason Rudolph and Will Howard in training camp.
The former has some starting experience, but with a 9-9-1 record and a career total of 4,925 passing yards, 30 touchdowns and 22 interceptions, Pittsburgh has to know that he isn't any sort of solution. Howard won a national title at Ohio State before the Steelers took him in the sixth round, but he missed 2025 with a broken bone in his throwing hand, making him a completely unknown commodity.
General manager Omar Khan should consider calling a team with a veteran option who still has enough treads on their tires to give Rudolph and Howard competition in training camp. Luckily, just such a fit exists.
Saints can offload failed QB experiment to desperate Steelers
Pittsburgh missed out on a lot of solid free agent options, and now the pickings are slim ahead of April's draft. Unless Khan is planning on spending a first-round pick on Alabama's Ty Simpson (which he shouldn't), then utilizing the trade market is his only other option to build viable depth regardless of Rodgers' decision.
The New Orleans Saints signed Zach Wilson on Wednesday, which is the team's clearest signal yet that QB1 Tyler Shough's backup, Spencer Rattler, probably won't make it to Week 1 on the roster. Rattler, a fifth-round pick in 2024, started New Orleans' first eight games last season but was benched for Shough after a disappointing performance.
He threw for just 1,586 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions with a 50.3 passer rating. Less than stellar for the guy who was for a brief time penciled in as the successor Derek Carr. The Saints look ready to move on from the 25-year-old while he still has potential as a reclamation project for another franchise. They'd save just over $1.1 million against the salary cap this season with two years left on Rattler's contract.
The Steelers should be that franchise, because there is little risk to trying Rattler out. If Rodgers is in, Rattler is a perfectly fine backup. If Rodgers is out, Pittsburgh has screwed itself no matter what, and Rattler is as good a flier for a year as any while waiting until 2027. Either way, this roster deserves better than what it has at the most important position right now.
Trade proposal: Spencer Rattler in exchange for a 2026 fifth-round pick
Giving up a fifth-rounder this year isn't going to rob Pittsburgh of a stud prospect, especially when they have extra third- and fourth-round picks (and especially when the alternative to Rattler actually yielding success in the absence of Rodgers is winding up with a top-10 pick in a loaded QB class in 2027).
Roll the dice, Steelers. If anything, it's the perfect cover for a soft tank in the event Rodgers doesn't return. Khan needs to get creative and give McCarthy time to establish a system before the team's true QB of the future arrives next year.