The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have a secure future at the quarterback position.
Aaron Rodgers is the starter for 2025, but it looks like he’s more likely to retire than not after this season. We already know Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson aren’t starting-caliber quarterbacks and the jury is still out on 2025 sixth-round pick, Will Howard, who appears set to miss the entire preseason with a finger injury.
As we wait for the 2026 NFL draft, when the Steelers are likely to be in the market for a quarterback, general manager Omar Khan should be exploring less traditional methods to find the team’s quarterback of the future.
One of those methods could be a trade for Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson, who lost out on the starting job to veteran Daniel Jones and might be expendable as a result.
In an article naming possible landing spots for Richardson, NBC Los Angeles’ Sanjesh Singh suggested the Steelers as one of them.
The teams that make the most sense for Richardson are either ones that have veteran quarterbacks who don’t move the needle for a playoff push or ones that don’t have a cornerstone locked down. The Steelers are led by Aaron Rodgers, who will be 42 years old in December. His backup is Mason Rudolph. Pittsburgh usually gets into the back end of the playoffs under Mike Tomlin, but a future QB1 is necessary.
It’s true that Richardson has been woefully disappointing and injury-prone over two years in the NFL. But he’s also just 23 years old and younger than guys like Howard, Caleb Williams, Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr., for example.
The Steelers could have Richardson sit behind Rodgers for 2025 and then have him compete for the starting job in 2026, assuming Rodgers indeed moves on. If it doesn’t work out, Richardson will be a free agent in 2027, so there’s no big commitment for Pittsburgh.
The problem in the short term is that the Steelers would have four quarterbacks to carry when you include Rodgers, Rudolph and Howard.
A quarterback move would be necessary as a result and perhaps the Steelers would consider moving on from either Rudolph or Howard in this scenario. Rudolph can offer a strong backup option for the injury-prone Jones in Indy, and Howard can give the Colts a possible future starting option if Jones doesn’t pan out.
Packaging Howard or Rudolph along with a swap of Day 3 picks should be enough to get a deal done considering how down-and-out Richardson is in terms of his career.
Ideally, the Steelers part with Rudolph instead of Howard, but we’d be willing to take a swing on Richardson no matter which signal-caller is involved.
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