CBS Sports: Mitch Trubisky Most Overvalued Steelers Player
After having a tumultuous tenure in Chicago, many labeled current Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky as a bust. Trubisky was really never set up for success, however, as Matt Nagy did him no favors. The Bears have also been a wasteland for quarterbacks for decades.
With that said, Trubisky was still 29-21 as a starter and led the Bears to the playoffs twice. He also had a 64-37 touchdown-interception ratio and a passer rating of 87.2. So, he wasn’t awful, but he certainly didn’t live up to being the second overall pick in 2017. Trubisky was drafted ahead of Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, so yeah, the Bears clearly missed on their projection.
Ben Roethlisberger retired in January after an 18-year Hall of Fame career and the Steelers did not have a replacement in place, so they went out and signed Trubisky to a two-year, $14.285 million deal (including incentives) in free agency. Over a month later, the Steelers selected Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett at 20th overall.
Trubisky got first-team reps during OTAs and minicamp and is considered the favorite to be the Steelers’ starter in Week 1. Pickett ran with the third-team, while Mason Rudolph got second-team reps. Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports wonders if Trubisky is the best choice to lead the offense post-Roethlisberger, though. Kerr recently listed overvalued players on every AFC team, and he had Trubisky as the most overvalued player on the Steelers.
“Of the 47 quarterbacks with more than 500 pass attempts over the four years Trubisky started (2017-2020), he ranked 31st in passer rating (87.2), 26th in completion percentage (64%), 29th in touchdown percentage (4.1), and 37th in yards per attempt (6.73),” Kerr wrote. “Not exactly numbers beaming with confidence, but Trubisky appeared resurrected as a backup quarterback in Buffalo, learning new aspects of the game under Brian Daboll and the Bills’ offensive coaching staff.”
Last year, Roethlisberger’s mobility was all but gone and he really wasn’t a good fit for what Matt Canada wanted to do offensively. That won’t be the case this year as Trubisky and Pickett are both mobile. Kerr thinks Trubisky would be an upgrade from last year’s version of Roethlisberger, but he’s skeptical of Trubisky starting over Pickett.
“If anything, Trubisky can’t be any worse than what Roethlisberger was last season,” Kerr wrote. “In fact, the Steelers were wise to sign him to a short contract and draft the best available quarterback in the draft in Kenny Pickett — as they were fortunate he fell to No. 20.
“For a team that always has playoff aspirations and exceeds expectations, are the Steelers really going to trust Trubisky to run this offense? Training camp will be very interesting if Trubisky is the No. 1 quarterback.”
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