The Pittsburgh Steelers have an uncertain future at the quarterback position.
Aaron Rodgers just turned 42 years old and there’s no telling if he’ll be back next year, as he could very well retire.
If that happens, the Steelers will be left with Mason Rudolph and Will Howard, neither of whom are locked-in starters.
If Rodgers doesn’t come back, The Ringer’s Diante Lee predicts the Steelers will turn to a trade with the Indianapolis Colts for quarterback Anthony Richardson while also signing veteran New York Jets signal-caller Tyrod Taylor.
If I had to guess, I’d imagine that Pittsburgh will do the most predictable thing possible. That means signing a guy like Tyrod Taylor to be the starter, then trading for a quarterback like Anthony Richardson as a half-hearted attempt to bring in a player with a high ceiling. Those two would trade off weeks of being mediocre, and the Steelers defense would force an ungodly number of turnovers and drag this team to 7-10 while fans in Acrisure Stadium wave their towels in disgust.
A former No. 4 overall pick, Richardson’s NFL career has been a disaster.
On top of dealing with injuries, Richardson has been ineffective when on the field. That led to him losing the starting job to veteran quarterback Daniel Jones in 2025, and Jones might have cemented himself as Indy’s long-term answer, too.
That should make Richardson expendable in 2026, and he figures to draw interest on the trade market given the fact that he’s still just 23 years old.
We would definitely prefer the Steelers draft a quarterback, but Richardson could be the next best thing as a player that offers a possible long-term answer. With his stock in the toilet, Richardson shouldn’t cost more than a Day 3 pick.
With Rudolph already under contract, Taylor, who is in the final year of his $12 million contract, makes less sense.
He might be a better quarterback overall than Rudolph, but he has also had injury issues during his career and isn’t enough of an upgrade to spend money on in free agency.
Rudolph is a sufficient veteran option in the quarterbacks room for the Steelers in 2026, so we don’t see Pittsburgh adding another veteran, barring that veteran amounting to a massive upgrade at the position.
If Rodgers retires, the most ideal approach for the Steelers at quarterback in 2026 is using an early draft pick on one and having that player compete with Howard and Rudolph in training camp.
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