Ex-NFL GM Proposes Wild Steelers Trade Scenario
Former New York Jets and Miami Dolphins general manager Mike Tannenbaum had a wild take regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback situation during Wednesday’s Get Up episode. He proposed that Pittsburgh should trade Russell Wilson to the Minnesota Vikings and sign quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
The Minnesota Vikings lost rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy for the season with a torn meniscus and Sam Darnold is slotted to be the starter. Tannehill makes sense for the Steelers since he posted career-high numbers when he played under Arthur Smith in Tennessee. Tannehill is 36 and has regressed since 2019-2020, however.
“Unfortunately for Minnesota, history is repeating itself,” Tannenbaum said. “We go back to 2016, very unfortunate injury. Teddy Bridgewater had a catastrophic injury at practice. Sam Bradford gets traded from the Eagles to the Vikings. So to me, I think a win-win here is to trade Russell Wilson to Minnesota. I think he’s a better quarterback than Sam Darnold.”
.@realtannenbaum thinks the Steelers should trade Russell Wilson to the Vikings and sign Ryan Tannehill 😯
“A win-win here is to trade Russell Wilson to Minnesota. I think he’s a better quarterback than Sam Darnold. They certainly can battle it out.” pic.twitter.com/wfpAkerqlt
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 21, 2024
Mike Tomlin confirmed that Wilson will be the starter in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Detroit Lions. Wilson has been the favorite to start since he signed with Pittsburgh in March, and it doesn’t seem like he’s in danger to be supplanted by Justin Fields. Fields has been OK, but really hasn’t turned heads during the preseason.
Due to the inefficiencies on offense, Mike Tomlin said he got an incomplete study on Wilson in Saturday’s 9-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Wilson also missed the first two weeks of training camp with a calf injury, so Arthur Smith limited the playbook for him in Saturday’s game against Buffalo. The Steelers really haven’t got a good look at Wilson.
Given the circumstances, it’s hard to imagine the Steelers moving on from Wilson. The Steelers probably wouldn’t even get anything significant in trade compensation by trading Wilson to Minnesota. That’s not really a win-win situation for the Vikings, either. It’s not Russell Wilson from 10 years ago.
It appears that the Vikings are fine with riding it out with Darnold, however. The Vikings prepared all offseason with the possibility that Darnold could be the starter, since it wasn’t guaranteed that McCarthy would surpass the veteran.
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