The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback’s room is suddenly cramped.
The return of Aaron Rodgers for one final trip, along with the third-round draft of Drew Allar, makes four signal callers in the QB room, with veteran Mason Rudolph and second-year pro Will Howard rounding out the crew.
On Wednesday, new coach Mike McCarthy said it was a good problem to have and said he hoped to find a way to keep all four on the roster.
“We definitely have four that we love, I can tell,” McCarthy said. “You always have to develop the room. That’s always been the approach. We hope so [GM] Omar [Khan] can get the list increased to 55 and we can keep four. It is a very nice room. It’s a good place to be, with four guys who can play.”
The 42-year-old Rodgers is the starter, that much is known. The question is how the other three manage. The talk out of Pittsburgh suggests that while Rudolph might be the easiest to move on, the Steelers seem inclined to keep him as the veteran No. 1 tight end. Howard didn’t take snaps as a rookie, but he’s been praised this season and has taken over the second team early in the season. However, simple math suggests that he will have to fight to stay on the roster. The Steelers used a third round pick on Allar. It would be surprising to bait the rookie who is reportedly getting a mechanical overhaul from the new staff.
“Mason has a lot of experience,” McCarthy said. “We’re trying to develop Will and Drew as best we can. Will is ahead of Drew, just by the fact that he’s been here.”
Keeping four backs is rare. That could leave the Steelers short elsewhere. Ideally, Pittsburgh would cut one of the youngsters and then sign him to the practice squad, but that leaves them open to being poached by another club.
The offseason work should give us a better picture, especially their play in training camp and the preseason.
With Rodgers’ experience and familiarity with McCarthy’s offense, the Steelers can afford to rotate reps more easily than most teams with a clear-cut starter. Offensive manager Brian Angelichio said earlier this week that the club had a plan to rotate the representatives to the benefit of all four.
“One thing Coach McCarthy talks about is the developmental coaching of the quarterbacks,” Angelichio said, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review . “I think with the system that’s in place here, it’s great that we have four quarterbacks. That’s something we’re really excited about. We have a good plan for how we’re going to get these guys represented, so they can all continue to develop.”
Rodgers returned for one final campaign was part of the QB puzzle in Pittsburgh. What’s left is to determine how the rest of the room shakes out.