Steelers owner finds mobility a 'desirable' trait in team's next quarterback

Art Rooney II is ready to oversee the first seismic shift in quarterbacks for the Pittsburgh Steelers since two-time Super Bowl winner Ben Roethlisberger was drafted in 2004.

He realizes the task facing him and the organization is daunting.

“You have to take advantage of whatever opportunity you have to get the best quarterback you can find,” Rooney said Friday. “You don’t always have the luxury of saying, I want A, B and C and going to the grocery store and ordering a quarterback.

“We’ll evaluate all the options we have.”

With Roethlisberger announcing his retirement one day earlier, Rooney and the Steelers are faced with supplementing a quarterback group that includes backup Mason Rudolph and No. 3 passer Dwayne Haskins. They will compete for the starting job in 2022.

Coach Mike Tomlin has said mobility is an asset at the position, and Rooney echoed those sentiments when he conducted a video call with reporters.

“Mobile quarterbacks are the wave of the future,” he said. “Having mobility at that position is something that would be desirable. The other thing that is desirable is someone that can read a defense and complete a pass downfield.

“There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle that have to be put together. You don’t always get someone who meets every criteria you might want.”

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As evidenced by his two championships, three Super Bowl appearances and 52 regular-season and 18 postseason records with the franchise, Roethlisberger snugly fit those pieces of the puzzle. But by the age of 39, he no longer had the type of mobility that enabled him to break containment and make throws like he did earlier in his 18-year career.

Rooney indicated the Steelers will try to find a quarterback in the mold of, say, Patrick Mahomes rather than Lamar Jackson.

“Someone who can buy some time is desirable,” he said. “Having a quarterback that consistently is a threat to be part of your rushing attack, I’m not sure that is something I want to rely on and that you can rely on game-in and game-out, season-in and season-out.

“I think having some mobility is important, but having a quarterback whose biggest threat is running is probably not exactly something we’re looking for.”

The Steelers need to determine whether to add a veteran in free agency or find a prospect in the draft. They hold the No. 20 pick.

“Certainly, we won’t close any doors at this point,” Rooney said. “It’s still early in the process. There will be a lot of doors to open and look through.”

Other items Rooney addressed Friday:

• He acknowledged the inconsistency on offense where the Steelers ranked No. 21 in points and No. 23 in yards. The Steelers’ average of 20.2 points under Matt Canada was six fewer than in 2020 in former offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner’s final season.

“We needed to be more consistent more than anything else,” Rooney said. “We had a lot of games where we were good for a quarter or half but not really for four quarters. That is something Matt is going to want to address this offseason. Having so many young players, different pieces coming together, including a new coordinator, there were some challenges there. We tried to make the best of it, but we didn’t meet all of our goals, for sure.”

• Stephon Tuitt’s future remains up in the air. The defensive end missed the entire 2021 season because of knee surgery and the tragic death of his brother in the offseason.

Tuitt’s contract will count nearly $14 million against the salary cap as he heads into the final year of his deal.

“I wish I had an answer for you there,” Rooney said. “All I can say is we will be evaluating that situation and having discussions with Stephon here in the next few weeks. Hopefully, we will be able to say something more definitively in the near future.”

• Unlike last year when the Steelers had to cut veterans and restructure other deals to get compliant with the salary cap, they will have at least $30 million to spend this offseason.

“I do like the fact we maybe have more room to work with going into this free agency period,” Rooney said. “That may allow us to be more aggressive in situations. We have some holes to fill and hopefully having some cap space will allow us to do some of those things as well as the draft.”