PITTSBURGH — Free agent addition Mitch Trubisky has been the Steelers’ starting quarterback throughout OTAs and minicamp, with offensive coordinator Matt Canada saying on Tuesday that head coach Mike Tomlin personally assigned him his place at the top of the depth chart, with Mason Rudolph second and rookie Kenny Pickett third.
Trubisky’s spot at the top is where all three quarterbacks want to be, and while all of them have said not to read too much into the pecking order in May, it certainly has shown the amount of faith the coaching staff has in the former No. 2 overall pick.
“I’m preparing to be the starter,” Trubisky said. “I feel like no matter what position you’re in, that’s what you should compete like. We’re all pushing each other. We’re all competing every day.”
While all three players are preparing to be the starter, only one has been, and that has meant that Trubisky has gotten the lion’s share of the reps so far. With Pickett also new to the team and offensive coordinator promising significant changes following the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback with the most reps this spring will certainly have an advantage when the real competition starts at training camp in July.
“I’m getting a lot of good reps,” Trubisky said. “I feel comfortable in the offense. I like where we’re at right now and I feel confident.”
While Canada made a lot of compromises in 2021, combining some elements of his desired scheme with a whole lot of carryover from what the Steelers did under Randy Fichtner for the benefit of Roethlisberger, he seems set on making the scheme his own in 2022.
But with that being said, Trubisky has said the two have already worked together on fine-tuning calls to be made in the two-minute drill based on his preferences.
“We’re still working through all that together,” Trubisky said. “I think in a situation like a two-minute at the end, we’re just talking through certain calls I like at the end of the game in a situation like that. But right now, we’re really just trying to install the offense, put everything in, working, see what we like and what we don’t, and just continue to talk through that.”